Naruto Crossfire: Dimension 287
by AProcrastinatingWriter
Summary: From Naruto's dimension, just head straight forward a couple universes and turn left, and you'll reach this dimension. This is where Naruto's story is retold in a different way, with different faces. A crossover? No, yet those faces ARE familiar ones...
1. The Difference One Life Makes

A quick question...considering all it is is contact between two people's lips, why is kissing pleasurable?

Hi, this is AProcrastinatingWriter, with my latest story: Dimension 287. Though I've posted it in the normal section, one could technically call it a Crossover...yet at the same time, it isn't. Really, one could say it's simply a Naruto fic with a bunch of OCs...albeit OCs that aren't mine. Uh...

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Naruto in any way, shape or form. Nor any of the other characters, which shall be disclaimed as they appear.

Be forewarned when reading this first chapter: the next chapter may not be up for a while, and updates after that may be sparser than I like, or may not be. Since I do have a habit of procrastination with fanfics, I'm going to try and always be a few chapters "ahead", and as of the time of this writing, I am not. So, one could say this is a preview of a work in progress, or a 'What-if?' oneshot for the time being.

Anyway, this is a bit of an Alternate-Universe fic. It takes place synonymously with the actual Naruto timeline up until the Chunin exams, and then things start changing thanks to the new characters' influence on the world. It's a slow start, but the butterfly effect comes into play. Thusly, we shall start our story just before the Chunin exams are announced. So, time's-a-wasting, get to reading!

_Optional song to listen to during this chapter: 'Hero' by Skillet. Obviously not my property.  
_

* * *

The figure moved through a system of basic steps and double-fakes as he swept through the trees. He would have done something more complex, but there had not been time to formulate a plan. Only run. _-Hard to imagine when I decided to infiltrate this place that the whole thing would turn out so big..- _he mused. _-Wonder what my Black Ops buddies would think of me now?-_

Well, they would have laughed at him if they saw him now. Basic maneuvers? Like a Genin fresh from the academy? You can't do better than that? You sure you're cut out for Black Ops? But deep down, they would've thought: if the man currently swooping through the trees had no time to form more than a basic strategy, then the whole darn world is probably about to be in big trouble. They would also be very correct in that thought.

_-I have to get back to the Village Hidden in the Leaves. I have to tell Lord Hokage.-_

The figure spotted a warehouse in the distance. An odd thing to find in the middle of a forest, but then again, he had seen odder. He was, after all, a member of the Black Ops. Individual Level. Where the best of the Black Ops were gathered and trained to their fullest ability.

The Individual Level of the ANBU was only a legend to those outside of its ranks. Actually, it was only a legend within the ANBU Black Ops themselves. Those outside the Black Ops had no idea of its existence. It was not something to be forced upon you. Only those who showed disturbing prowess, potential, and power were selected for recruitment, and only those selected who wished to be a part of Individual Level would become members. Since it was made absolutely clear to all candidates that their duty did not require them to do this, few accepted.

And why would they? The Individual Level was called that for a reason: it was all up to the individual. No team, no family, no friends, and no village. Just a few thousand ryo a year to make ends meet. After all, their deaths were faked to cut any and all ties to their past. They would each receive a unique mask of their own choice, to replace the Zodiac animal mask they wore beforehand, so that no one knew they were Black Ops, not even their former teammates. And they would be sent out into the field, with only a few assignments given them: _Do not let anyone know your identity. Never let anyone __suspect that the Individual Level exists. And, above all, protect the Village. _

And they would never come back.

The figure chuckled bitterly to himself as he landed on the rooftop of the warehouse. _-Looks like I'll be the first to buck that trend,-_ he thought as he crouched down to avoid being seen, listening and looking for an ambush that was almost certainly coming. He momentarily wished he had his mask and uniform back on right now, but he pushed that thought aside. No matter how much stealth it offered, black against the black night sky, his outfit would give him away to his pursuers as ANBU, possible Individual Level if they were privy to that information.

"What are we looking for?"

The figure jumped to the side, turning to face the other man on the rooftop with him. The second man stood, slowly, moonlight gleaming off his glasses and illuminating his silver hair, tied into a ponytail behind him. A smirk lit the night sky as well as any of the stars as the two stared each other down.

"Kabuto," the first said under his breath, as if the name were a curse.

"Kuro," replied Kabuto, "Or perhaps I should call you Bruce, seeing as how that's your real name?"

The first man, apparently named Bruce, grimaced as five other mocking voices suddenly started chuckling, as if the joke had been genuinely funny instead of the usual pre-battle banter. Bruce supposed everyone had to get their stress out somehow, and this was a very stressful time. As Jirōbō, Kidōmaru, Sakon and Ukon, Kimimaro, and Tayuya surrounded him from six different directions (counting Kabuto), Bruce drew out his blades from his black cloak, thankful that, as it was not part of the technical black ops uniform, he could allow himself to wear it. It carried a lot of useful things inside it. He crossed his arms in front of him as Kabuto and the Sound Ninja Five slowly closed in on him. The blades, which were large and curved and attached to the sleeves of his coat, protected him, though certainly not well enough.

Kabuto still had that smirk on his face. "I must say, Bruce, you did an excellent job infiltrating the Village Hidden in the Sound. I myself didn't suspect you until two months ago...but now, I have proof that you're a traitor. And Orochimaru," and he suddenly stopped, and the Sound Ninja Five imitated him. "Is very displeased with you."

Bruce smirked in response. "Well," he said, ripping off his Sound Ninja headband, "I suppose I don't need to wear this anymore, do I?" And he tossed it on the ground in front of Kabuto.

Kabuto looked down at the headband for a split second before stepping forward again. "Bruce, Bruce, Bruce..." he began, then suddenly stopped as the Sound headband behind him began emanating a bright light. "What the-?" he gasped, turning, as the five other ninja suddenly looked frightened.

Bruce's eyes narrowed as a self-satisfied smile came across his face. "Boom."

The headband echoed his sentiments, rather loudly and with a lot of fire and smoke.

Kabuto stumbled out the smoke, coughing, several first-degree burns on his face and torso, but otherwise undamaged. The other ninja had similar symptoms, but not in as nearly a large amount. Kabuto looked around. Bruce was nowhere to be seen.

Kimimaro took the initiative. "Spread out and find him," he said, his companions complying. Kimimaro looked at Kabuto for a split second before turning in his own direction and leaping away as well. Kabuto followed soon after.

Meanwhile, in the forest, Bruce landed softly on a branch momentarily, pondering which direction to go. He took a deep breath, then placed his fingers together, pinkies downward. The Dragon seal.

Somewhere between East and Southeast of his current position, for a great distance, several branches broke or bent, leaves fell off the trees, and footprints were left on the larger branches. An obvious gambit that even a Genin could see through. No self-respecting ninja, even one panicking and on the brink of death, would leave such a sloppy trail. It was an obvious distraction.

Bruce's hands quickly flashed through the Rat, Horse, Bird, and Boar signs. To the North, South, West, and North-Northwest of his position, similar things happened. Now the Jutsu was more likely to stop a shinobi in their tracks for a few seconds. Still, it probably wouldn't work. No self-respecting hunter-nin would ever stop to look at any of the paths, focusing more on the other paths that obviously weren't traps, or mere distractions for that matter, looking for subtle indications of which way the ninja they were pursuing had actually gone.

So Bruce went East-Southeast.

**0-0-0-0**

Kimimaro landed on a branch, slowly standing up. He cracked his neck as he looked around for any signs of the traitorous Bruce. He had always suspected the newcomer of hiding something, but never dreamt that it would be anything as severe as this.

A spy. Bruce was a spy.

Kimimaro's eyes narrowed slightly at the thought. _-Whom is he a spy for?-_

His thoughts were interrupted by Kabuto, who came to a stop next to bony man. Kimimaro turned slightly, enough to acknowledge Kabuto and no more.

Kabuto was silent for a second. Then: "One of Kidōmaru's spider webs has been broken. The work of a Jutsu."

Kimimaro was intrigued. "Go on."

Kabuto did. "Several more were broken in different directions from a single point, but those occurred several seconds after the first. We can only assume he went down the path of the original Jutsu."

"We can only 'assume?'" asked Kimimaro, though it was really more of a statement.

Kabuto was not fazed. "If this man is truly whom Orochimaru suspects, then 'assume' is all we can do." Kimimaro nodded. Kabuto's statement was an accurate one. Without another word, for words would waste time, Kimimaro and Kabuto took off in the direction where the six were again to meet up with the traitor.

******0-0-0-0**  


Bruce admonished himself for panicking. -_You forgot all your training,-_ he thought, voice accusing. _-You panicked. You couldn't even hear Kabuto sneaking up on you, you were so panicked.- _A determined look came across his features. _-I will not let that happen again.-_

Truthfully, though, Bruce had nothing to admonish himself about. He had been deep inside enemy territory for months without panicking, had almost been caught doing something he shouldn't have been doing a dozen or more times without panicking, and had finally been caught only just a few hours ago, without panicking. until the traps started going off. Between the traps and Kabuto and the Sound Ninja and the threat of Orochimaru showing up, Bruce barely got out of there with his life, as the sharp pain shooting up his hips every time his right foot hit a branch reminded him. Lucky he had been able to stop the bleeding, otherwise he'd have left a trail easy enough for a wolf to follow, let alone a shinobi.

But Bruce refused to panic. He would not allow himself to panic. The last time he panicked, before the whole Black Ops thing, he was just a Genin out of the academy. And he had stood by, scared to tears, as his civilian parents were stabbed to death in front of him by some punk, not even a ninja, with a knife. As long as Bruce was around, though, he refused to let that happen to anyone else. Which was why he had to break the rules, and get the message to Konoha.

"GOTCHA!"

Bruce turned instinctively towards the noise, only to be met by a ball of webbing. _-Kidōmaru,-_ he thought as he felt himself pinned up against a nearby tree. Between when the ball hit and his being pinned, he had managed to move his hand inside his cloak. Kidōmaru either didn't notice or didn't care as several thin, steel-strong lines of web wrapped around Bruce, leaving bruises and cuts where they impacted. Bruce stared at Kidōmaru impassively. Kidōmaru stared at Bruce with bloodlust in his eyes.

"You should know, since we've worked together," said Bruce, his voice almost monotonic, "That I am a master of Escape Jutsus."

"And you should know, since we've worked together," replied Kidōmaru, revealing to Bruce the Sticky Gold dagger he had made and was hiding behind his back, "That you won't have time to use them!" And he threw the dagger.

Before it hit, Bruce suddenly drew his blades from nowhere, cutting through the web like butter. He flipped onto his legs, upward, as if doing a backwards somersault on the ground (except, of course, that he was on the side of a tree), and leapt forward and kicked the spider-child in the face before he had a chance to use his Armor of Sticky Gold. Kidōmaru was thrown backwards, leaving an impact in the tree where he hit, then breaking four branches while falling several stories to the ground. He was unconscious before he even impacted the tree.

Bruce looked down at his defeated foe. "Chakra-cutting blades," he said, as though Kidōmaru could hear him. Then he took off again.

**0-0-0-0**

Kabuto and the four remaining Sound Ninja gathered around Kidōmaru's unconscious form. "I'd say he was definitely here," murmured Sakon, irking the other ninja slightly.

Kabuto picked up the unconscious Sound Ninja. "I'll get him back to Lord Orochimaru," he said. "You four track down our 'friend'." The others nodded in response, and Kabuto took off in the direction he came from. The four remaining fighters headed off after Bruce, looking for any signs of someone having been there.

It was a long journey, to be sure, and the four were definitely far behind, but Bruce was at the disadvantage. His chakra reserves were depleting rapidly, and his injury was slowing him down significantly. And on top of all that, Sakon (and Ukon, though he was not currently awake) were experts in the art of tracking, and Bruce's exhaustion was making him...sloppy. At least, in comparison to when he was in top form.

It was two hours later, as they slowly fanned out in different directions to give themselves more room and cover more ground, that Tayuya finally picked up on a sign of his even still existing. She stopped, and turned to the offending bush. It had berries on it. Or, rather, recently had berries. She smirked. _-Bruce, Bruce, Bruce,-_ she murmured, slowly raising her flute to her lips. _-Letting your hunger get the best of you? That doesn't seem like you, 'old chum'.- _And she began to play. There was no special Jutsu in the flute's notes, no real melody to the song...but there was sound. And by measuring how far out the sound waves traveled before they came back...and listening carefully to the echo...she could determine that he was close. Very close. In fact, he seemed to be...

_SCHWING._

Tayuyua grasped her right hand in her left as the flute was knocked out of her hands by a shuriken. Its now-weakened plastic body snapped upon hitting the ground, rendering the flute useless. She reached for her spare, but realized that pulling it out before knowing exactly where Bruce was would be a stupid idea. "Where are you?" she screamed, adding a curse in the middle for good measure as she repeated the question.

"I'm in the shadows, of course," came the answer from...somewhere. Everywhere. Nowhere. No, it was definitely somewhere, one specific spot. But where? "I thought you would have figured that out long ago. You always were the smart one, Tayuya."

"The Shadow Spirit Jutsu," the girl murmured under her breath as she activated her curse mark. She did _not _want what happened to Kidōmaru to happen to her. The Shadow Spirit Jutsu allowed its user to blend in to background, reducing their visibility in daylight and making them nigh-invisible in moonlight.

"Exactly,"

"Why didn't you use it sooner? I thought you didn't have enough chakra!"

"I didn't," Bruce responded, as Tayuya turned to where he was a split second ago. She was catching on to the Jutsu. He had to move fast. "But then I encountered those berries you noticed. In the long run, they actually reduce the total amount of chakra a body puts out over its lifetime. In the short run, though, they're excellent for providing an energy boost."

"Hmph. So I suppose you're some kind of freaking expert on plants, then?" asked Tayuya, looking around, trying to pinpoint her foe. (She, of course, used a much less polite version of the word "freaking".)

"I am," came a voice from directly behind Tayuya, just before the flute-playing girl screamed in pain and fell to the ground, the hook-marks on her body receding back into her seal. "And I'm expert on a lot of other things, too. Like curse marks." Tayuya struggled to stay conscious as she looked up. Bruce was holding some special type of kunai in his hand – it almost appeared to be sparking. "For example, though Orochimaru probably didn't tell you, there is a spot directly at the center of your curse mark that is especially vulnerable to lightning-type chakra." Bruce paused for a moment. "I'd suggest you fall unconscious now. I really don't have time to stab you again."

Tayuya struggled for a few more seconds before deciding to take his advice.

Bruce sighed. _-I couldn't let her see it,-_ he thought as he turned, preparing to start running, _-But I'm almost out of chakra. I have to be even more careful from here on-_

Bruce was interrupted by a shuriken to the shoulder. He screamed in pain at the suddenness of the blow, dropping his kunai and clutching the space between his neck and his left collarbone. Before he could make a move to pull the shuriken out of him, Sakon suddenly appeared, punching him six times (three not counting Ukon's help) before punching Bruce in the jaw. Bruce stumbled backwards, preparing his blades. Jirōbō suddenly appeared behind him, grimacing. Bruce half-turned before being slapped by a hand strong enough to lift boulders. He felt teeth crack in his jaw as he stumbled to the ground. Looking up, Bruce barely had time to dodge , then parry a bone-dagger, before making a swipe at Kimimaro himself as he got up.

Kimimaro dodged easily underneath the blow, and then Jirōbō slammed into Bruce, sending him flying again. Bruce stayed down for a split second before beginning to get up. Before he could get more than an inch off the ground, Sakon kicked him with two feet, sending Bruce rolling. Using the momentum to get up, Bruce managed to get to his feet and charge at the group.

"Digital Shrapnel!" called Kimimaro, firing his fingerbones. Each met their mark, though none were fatal. Kimimaro knew this would be the case, thanks to the thick body armor Bruce was wearing, so he mainly aimed for the left shoulder, where Bruce had previously been injured by his own shuriken, thrown by Sakon. A nice little bit of irony.

"AAAH!" shouted the Individual Level Operative, his arm now hanging limp. Sakon leapt towards him, figuring now would be a good time to attack. Bruce gritted through the pain, though, and managed to make a glancing blow on Sakon with his right arm-blade. Kimimaro prepared another bone-dagger as Sakon attacked again, now more cautiously. Even once Kimimaro joined in the fight, though, Bruce fought surprisingly well. But, in the end, he was a ninja of the shadows, strong in hand to hand combat but no match for a shinobi who specialized in it. Add on top of that the fact that he was outnumbered, low on chakra and grievously injured, and it was not long before Bruce's defense let, and he was stabbed in the stomach. In shock from the blow, Bruce did not scream, only stepped backwards, the bone-dagger playing an ironic part in saving his life by plugging the wound it made so that Bruce did not bleed to death. Jirōbō, who though strong was not subtle in his techniques, chose now to re-enter the fight, slamming a man in shock with no chance of fighting back into a nearby tree. It was something similar to karma: just a few hours ago, Bruce had knocked a teenager unconscious in a similar fashion.

The three ninja from the Village Hidden in the Sound stepped forwards, expecting to see a dead traitor in front of them. To their surprise, he was neither dead nor unconscious, though his breathing was irregular and blood was leaking from his mouth. The ninja turned from their mild surprise before anyone could comment on their situation, as someone behind them had started clapping. From the shadows, a thin figure with an unmistakeably evil aura stepped, smirking as befitting only a demon or one who worked closely with demons. Pale-skinned and snake-eyed, there was no mistaking this ominous figure.

"Orochimaru," murmured Bruce softly, though anger was evident in his voice.

"Bruce," returned the Snake Sannin in tone that could only be described as a twisted parody of affection. "What's the matter? You look hurt..." Bruce only glared in response, though his body trembled with pain. Orochimaru chuckled. "You know Bruce, I hate to say it, but I'm afraid you look rather pathetic at the moment. Almost as pathetic as when you came to me begging for membership in my little village..." and Orochimaru walked forward as he spoke, closer and closer, toward Bruce, whom was struggling to sit up.

"Enough talking," said Bruce. "Just get it over with already."

"Oh? Expecting a quick death, are we? Well, I suppose I can give you that much. After all, you were very helpful in all of my plans, even if you did turn out to be just another spy in the end." Bruce was gritting his teeth now as Orochimaru spoke, breathing much faster, but even more irregularly. Orochimaru suddenly stopped, that horrible thing that could never pass off as a smile to any rational person plastered on his face. He stood there for a few seconds, leering down at Bruce. Suddenly, he seemed to gag, and he turned his head to the sky. Out of his mouth came a small snake, and out of the snake's mouth came a sword. He pulled the sword out slowly, the snake retreated, and he began leering at Bruce again.

_-Disgusting,-_ was all Bruce could think, though the thought was less about the sword's hiding place and more about the man holding the sword.

Orochimaru licked his lips, once, quickly. "Bruce," he said, in the same disgusting tone as earlier. "Poor, poor Bruce. Such a loyal minion, I thought. Oh, well. At least you were useful to me." And he raised the sword, pulling it back for a quick jab to end it all. "But no more, I'm sad to say. I'm afraid our business...is _over._" And he plunged the sword into Bruce's heart, pinning him to the tree behind him.

Well, he would have, but at the last second Bruce suddenly knocked the sword aside. Orochimaru could have blocked the swipe easily, parried and stabbed again, but he was fooled by Bruce's something-like-playing-possum act. Bruce used Orochimaru's split second he wasted in surprise to slice him in half.

Mud fell where Orochimaru's clone used to be, as Bruce expected. Still, he was out of danger for the immediate moment, and it served as a nice distraction while the Individual Level ANBU Operative used the energy he'd been gathering while faking near-death to run up the tree he had been leaning against and begin leaping away.

"After him!" shouted Kimimaro, actually showing emotion, and his teammates were about to comply, but were interrupted again.

"Wait," said the same silky-smooth, satanic, snakelike voice, as another Orochimaru stepped into the clearing. Obviously another clone. The true Orochimaru had probably only gotten word of all the goings-on upon Kabuto's recent return. Then again, maybe he'd known all along. At any rate, the clones Orochimaru was using were quite useful for delivering messages and taking fatal blows for the cloner, but other than that they were very ineffective at long distances. No good for fighting any foe but one near-death already. "Do not follow him,"

"But Orochimaru," started Sakon, before remembering whom he was talking to and shutting his trap.

Orochimaru appeared to smile at first glance. At second glance, his expression remained unchanged, but you could never call it a smile. "We are too close to Konoha, I'm sorry to say. Oh well. It'll make a nice 'fish story', as they say. What do they call it again? 'The one that got away'?" And he chuckled, mirthlessly.

Kimimaro bowed to his master. "Understood, Lord Orochimaru. We will not attempt to follow."

Orochimaru made no effort to show that he had heard Kimimaro, though he obviously had. "It's a pity really. One the one hand, though he was faking for now, it won't be long before those injuries of his really do finish him off. On the other," and he titled his head to the side, "He will more than likely make it to Konoha before he succumbs. And he shall probably inform the Hokage of our plans. What a shame."

There was a silence no one dared to end for the longest time. Finally, Jirōbō spoke up. "So...what should we do, then, Lord Orochimaru?"

'Lord Orochimaru' sighed deeply. "I suppose we shall have to make alterations to our grand plan," he mumbled, his voice now that of a tragic figure, though his facial expression resembled anything but. "What a pity. It was such a good plan, too." And he shook his head.

"Uh...yes. A pity, to be sure...my lord," said Ukon, unsure whether or not he was supposed to respond.

"Indeed," murmured Orochimaru, stepping forward. The three Sound Ninja stepped aside, and Orochimaru's second mud clone stopped where his first one had been only minutes before. Orochimaru looked for a second at the bloodied tree, marks left on it by the daggers, one of bone and one of steel. He looked there for a few moments, then looked up to where Bruce had escaped. The sun was just beginning to rise.

There was another silence Jirōbō had to break. "Shall we...carry Tayuyua back, my lord?" he asked, unsurely.

"Hmm. Of course." murmured Orochimaru, waving his hand as a sign to go. Kimimaro quickly walked over, picked up the flute-player, and leapt into the treetops. His two teammates followed. Another silence before Orochimaru sighed. "I do so wish we had caught him, but I wasn't really expecting we would. After all, how could I expect less..."

And images flashed through Orochimaru's mind. Images of when he finally uncovered the secret level of ANBU. Images of torture on probable members. Images of plans from days gone by, his and other people's less...impressive plans. Images of slaughter, images of heroism. Images of a young boy, crying in an alleyway over his stabbed parents, bloodstains on his Leaf shinobi headband. Finally, an image of a man in a long black cloak, wearing ANBU Black Ops's special outfit underneath. Where the mask of an animal from the Zodiac's face would normally be, was a mask of a bat's face, black as midnight.

Orochimaru smirked. "...from the legendary 'Batman'?"

**0-0-0-0**

Hokage's tower, as it was nicknamed.

The Third Hokage sat in his office, smoking his pipe. The paperwork had been unusually easy and small in amount today. _-Usually a sign something bad is about to happen,-_ he thought to himself. Then he sighed, and walked over to the window.

Though the paperwork was small in amount today, he hadn't gotten started on it until very late, thanks to all the meetings he had been called to that day. -_Maybe that was the bad thing already,-_ he mused, not really believing it. He chuckled, and then looked down at the city. A beautiful city, for though officially it was a 'village' it could not truly be called such. Konoha. Absolutely stunning.

The Hokage smiled as he closed his eyes, basking in turn in the sunrise's rays and his fondest memories. He looked down upon the city again. Already, he could tell with excellent vision (one of the few things about his body that had not deteriorated at least somewhat with age), people were opening up their shops, probably in response to the people already out shopping. He chuckled again. He could understand why ninjas always needed to be on the alert and why they might need to be out at this hour, but for the life of him he could never understand what drove civilians to get up so gosh-darned early.

Another chuckle, and he turned back to his desk, sitting down again. Shuffling some papers around, he uncovered his schedule. _-Nothing on here until nine o'clock.-_ he thought, partially in amazement. He thought for a second on the options he had until then. _-Perhaps I can visit the Academy real quick before...oh, wait, I'd forgotten! I gave them the day off today! Silly me,-_ and he chuckled again. Sitting back, he continued in his thoughts. _-Perhaps I shall stop by Ichiraku's for some breakfast. Not exactly good for me this early in the morning, but that Naruto seems to get along just fine while eating it practically 24-7.-_ And he actually laughed out loud.

A crashing of glass suddenly broke him out of his reverie. Faster than should be expected for a man of twenty-one (nevertheless a man of his age) the Hokage turned towards the window, which had obviously been shattered. He stared for a second. "Bruce...?" he said, not sure if, after all these years, he was recognizing his pupil correctly, especially with him so beat up and dirtied. Not to mention the fact that if he had broken the rules and come back, something must be seriously wrong. "Is...that you?"

The legendary 'Batman' panted heavily some more, then took a step forward. "Lord Hokage" he breathed out, eyes fluttering. "It's...Orochimaru..."

Sarutobi gasped. "O-Orochimaru?" he gasped, praying to whatever gods were listening that he had misheard.

Bruce took another step forward. "He's going to attack. It was going to be during...the Chūnin exams...but I think I...dissuaded him...from...that..." And then, as the sun just cleared Hokage Monument and began shining in the sky, Bruce Wayne sighed, fell on the ground, and died.

Sarutobi stood, stunned for a second, before rushing to his former pupil's aid. He knelt down, no small feat for such old bones in such a state of shock, and felt Bruce's pulse with trembling fingers.

Nothing.

The Third Hokage sighed, reaching up and gently closing Bruce's eyes. He would be buried later, in a grave already set up for him. There would be no funeral, no well wishers to see him off to the next world, for the funeral had already been had, six years ago. Sarutobi stayed like that for a second, kneeling next to his disciple and contemplating the bad news he had just been given.

After the longest time he stood up, and looked out the window that had just been crashed through. The sun was shining over the Hokage's monument. He could see the First, Second, and Fourth's profiles...next to his own. They all looked over the village, larger than life being a reflection of the power they held. The Third nodded.

_-I will protect this village,-_ he thought, remembering and renewing the vow he'd made when he was sworn in as Hokage. _-With my life if need be, as those before me have done. I swear it.-_

* * *

I'm honestly sorry I killed off the Bat, but the narrative demanded it. I'm also sorry to all of you for keeping the identity of our 'mystery guest' a secret to near the very end when most of you probably had it figured out a lot sooner. More apologies from me come when I realize that chapter had plenty of 'adventure' but very little 'humor'. I hope to remedy that in the next chapter, but no guarentees, I'm sad to say. Oh yeah!

**DISCLAIMER 2:** Batman is not owned by me, he is property of DC Comics and Warner Bros. That said, this incarnation of Batman is my idea, and though according to the rules of the site you can use this idea without my permission, you need to ask 's owners. So, don't steal or you will get in trouble!

Thank you all for reading! Hope to see you again soon!


	2. The Same Yet Different

Hey, a quick question...what was the first white meat?

Hello again, this is AProcrastinatingWriter with chapter two of...this fic! Yeah. This one's a bit more humor, I assure, but don't expect anything 'laugh out loud' worthy. Just, you know, little funny moments. Like the actual Naruto series. But hey, maybe I'm being pessimistic; maybe this chapter deserves some good belly-laughs. I"ll leave that up to you to decide.

Before we get to the disclaimer: I mention between 4 and 6 new characters this chapter, but only will disclaim 2 or 3. This is because even though I mention their names, the characters themselves do not appear until later on. Therefore, even with the names, they've only been hinted. Really strongly hinted in one case, but hinted nonetheless.

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Naruto. Naruto is written by Masashi Kishimoto. I'd like to say I own this story, but I'm pretty sure it becomes property of the site's owners if I post it here, so...yeah. At least I came up with this idea...

Anyway, one last thing, and this is important. Are you listening? You sure? Good.

_**You rock!**_

That is all.

WAIT I FORGOT SOMETHING.

_Optional song to listen to during this chapter: Endless Possibilities by Jaret Reddick. Like I could think that song up if I tried, let alone play it...that means I don't own it, you silly._

* * *

"Are you serious? Orochimaru?"

The Third Hokage had called a meeting of all the Jonin, the ANBU Black Ops, and a few key Chunin and informed them of the news he received. Bruce's death, of course, was not mentioned, nor was his part in gathering the information, but it is not likely anyone would have remembered the information after that anyway. Most of the people there, with all of their incredible focus, had stopped listening in shock after the word "Orochimaru". Except, of course, for Gai. As per usual, the spandex-or-similar-substance-clad ninja had been the most outspoken of his group, and right now was...well, the only one even speaking after the announcement.

The Third Hokage puffed on his pipe a few times. "I am afraid I am serious. Deadly serious," he replied to Gai, who looked positively terrified and not at all youthful. A few more puffs on the pipe. "We are faced with difficult times," he murmured.

"You're not just whistling Dixie..." said Asuma under his breath, as most of the Jonin began recovering.

"No, I most certainly am not," replied Sarutobi, startling the other tobacco-puffer in the room. "This is perhaps the most dangerous time we have ever faced. We will need to be on guard."

Kurenai, a new Jonin, was last to recover. "So...what can we do? Against a Sannin, we might as well be-"

"Protecting the village at the risk of our own lives is part of the job description, Kurenai," said Kakashi. "Even when the situation looks hopeless, we are the ones who keep fighting, no matter what." Kurenai kept quiet, but still looked worried. Kakashi smiled behind his mask, closing his eyes. "Hey, if it helps any, I'm scared too."

Kurenai looked up, suddenly angry. "That doesn't help at all!" she said, metaphorical flames shooting up from behind her and teeth somehow appearing pointed.

"Easy, easy..." mumbled Kakashi, taking a step backwards and raising his hands in surrender.

"So, Lord Hokage, what exactly _should_ we do?" asked another Jonin. "I'm willing to lay my life on the line, of course, but against Orochimaru, we're going to need some kind of strategy, right?"

"Indeed," said the Third Hokage. "Unfortunately, the plan we intercepted is now useless, because Orochimaru knows that it is in our possession. We are thus blind to whatever may or may not happen, as Orochimaru will likely have changed his plans." He blew out a puff of smoke, weary. "So, until the eventual attack happens, we will need to guard our town more fiercely than ever before."

_-This will be difficult,-_ thought Anko, curse mark not actually reacting but her memories being enough to cause pain anyway. _-That snake Orochimaru might not attack for months, To be on heavy guard for months will severely limit the amount of missions we can accept, and that will mean that we receive less money, and that will mean we receive less resources and...- _Now it was her turn to shake her head.

"But there is good news," said the Third. Everyone paid just a slight bit more attention than they were a second ago. "We can be relatively sure that Orochimaru will not attack during the Chunin exams, for that was his original intent."

"Well, that means we're safe for now, at least," murmured Kurenai. There was silence for a little bit.

"Wait a second..." mumbled Asuma. Everyone looked at him. "Chunin exams? We're having those soon?" Everyone's eyes widened slightly before looking back over at the Third Hokage.

Sarutobi smiled. "Yes, that is the other thing I called you here to announce," he said, laying down his pipe. "The Chunin exams will be held in three days." Most of the people there slowly looked around, sharing shocked glances, but did not actually speak. "Before we get into the details, of course, I should wish to know who will be participating in the exams. First, I wish to know if any of the first-year Genin are ready to take the test. Will those Jonin in charge of the 'rookies' please step forward?"

Four figures stepped out of the large crowd, standing in line in front of the Hokage's desk. _-This is a formality, of course,- _thought Iruka as the Hokage explained some of the rules and risks that would go along with taking the exam. _-None of them are ready to take the exams. Generally, most ninja wait a year or two before even_ attempting_ to take them.-_

"Now, then," finished the Hokage, "Please announce your full names, your squad members, and those, if any, of your squad whom you feel are capable of taking the Chunin exams."

Kakashi, the rightmost, started, placing two fingers in front of his face as he began. "My name is Kakashi Hatake. I lead Team Seven: Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and Naruto Uzumaki." He paused for a moment. "I recommend all three of my students for the Chunin exams."

The Jonin and Chunin in the crowd lost their composure and began murmuring to each other. The ANBU stayed silent and did not react. _-No way!- _thought Iruka. _-He can't be serious!-_

Kurenai spoke up next. "I am Kurenai Yūhi, leader of Team Eight. My squad is comprised of Hinata Hyuuga, Shino Aburame, and Kiba Inuzaka." She did not hesitate anymore than Kakashi did, though unlike him she didn't pause for effect. "I recommend all three members of my team as well." More murmuring occurred. This time even some of the ANBU joined in.

Asuma smirked. "Well, I can't let them beat me, can I?" he asked with a smile on his face. He became all business after that, placing his fingers in front of his face and going by the book. "Asuma Sarutobi. I am Team Ten's sensei. My squad includes Shikamaru Nara, Chōji Akimichi, and Ino Yamanaka. I also will recommend all three of them for the Chunin exams." Everyone was murmuring now, but they quieted down when the last Jonin spoke up.

"My name is Mulan Fa," said the fourth one (apparently named Mulan), holding up two fingers in front of her face. "And I lead Team Fourteen. The members of my team are as follows: Kimberly Possible, Sora Kuriketto, and Simon, who does not have a clan name." Now it was her turn to smirk. "I guess I've got to recommend all my members too, huh?"

There was silence this time, mainly out of shock. It had been five years since any rookies had taken the Chunin Exams, and now twelve of them were taking them? "...alright," said the Third Hokage suddenly. "If that is the case, we will have the paperwork for entering all of them ready to be filled out as soon as possible. Now, then, if the other Genins' squad leaders will-"

"Lord Hokage, with all respect, I must protest this!" spoke up Iruka suddenly. "Please, believe me when I say that I know these students! I taught every single one of them at the academy at some point or another!" He shook his head. "And I know they aren't ready to take on the Chunin exams!"

"Hmm?" asked Kakashi. "You think so?"

"I know so," responded Iruka quickly. "Please, Lord Hokage!"

'Lord Hokage' blew out another puff of smoke. "The squad leaders have decided that their Genin _are_ ready to take the examinations. That is the end of the matter."

"But Lord Hokage-"

"Relax," interrupted Kakashi. "They'll be okay. Besides, a little pain won't hurt them...uh...you know what I mean."

"What?" shouted Iruka, taking a step forward.

"Oh, nothing fatal, of course," said Kakashi. "Just a few bumps, bruises...maybe a broken bone or two...it'll toughen them up."

"You can't be serious! How could you-"

"Alright, boys," said Mulan, stepping towards the two squabblers. "Can we break it up? Believe it or not, we didn't come here to listen to you two argue." Everyone chuckled, besides, of course, the two bickering, who sweatdropped. She turned back to Sarutobi and bowed slightly. "I would like to apologize on their behalf, Lord Hokage."

Sarutobi chuckled. "Not necessary," he smiled. _-Always a fine diplomat, that Mulan,-_ he thought. "For now, let us continue with the exam nominees. Kakashi and Iruka are free, of course, to settle their differences after this is all over."

Everyone chuckled one last time. _-They're not ready...-_ thought Iruka, too worried to be embarrassed. _-They're not ready...-_

**0-0-0-0**

"Okay!" said Naruto, at approximately the same time but in a very different location, turning around to the "rock" behind him. "What are you doing? Come on, everybody knows there's no such thing as square rocks!"

"Pretty slick, boss!" came a voice from inside the box. "I didn't think you'd be able to figure out it was me! Uh...us!" And the box suddenly exploded into multicolored bursts of smoke.

"WHAT THE?" shouted Naruto as four figures emerged, coughing from the smoke. "I think we used a little too much gunpowder, you guys..." said the one with the glasses and the snot-running nose. They suddenly seemed to remember that Naruto was watching them (now with an incredulous look on his face), as the four jumped up and each struck a pose in turn.

"I'm Moegi!" said the only girl of the group. "The sassiest kunoichi in preschool!"

"I love algebra!" said the glasses-wearing kid. "Call me Udon!"

"I'm Goku!" said the only one with a 'weapon', that weapon being a small plastic toy pole. "And I, uh...what was my line again?"

The last child took a second to facepalm before moving into his pose. "And I'm their leader, Konohamaru! And together we form..."

Another set of poses as the four children started speaking together. "...The Village Hidden in the Leaves's best four-man ninja squad..." And one last pose, all in synch with each other, "Team Infinity!"

There was a long silence.

"...huh?" asked Naruto finally.

"What do you think, boss? Pretty cool, huh?" asked Konohamaru.

Naruto finally figured out how to speak again. "What the heck are you guys doing?"

"That's our big entrance whenever we go on missions!" said Moegi, exiting her pose. The others followed suit soon after.

"Yeah. Konohamaru came up with it!" said Udon.

"Big entrance?" asked Naruto, incredulous once again. After a second or two, he shook his head, moving mentally into 'teacher mode'. "You guys, being a ninja isn't about making a big entrance!" he said hypocritically. "It's all about stealth and deception! You know, catching the enemy off guard and all that!" That part was less hypocritical, but not totally unhypocritical.

"Oh!" said all of Naruto's followers together. Goku suddenly looked confused, tilting his head to the side. "But, wait a second...boss, if being a ninja is all about stealth, why do you wear orange all the time?"

Naruto closed his eyes, raising a single finger into the air as he spoke. "A true ninja can wear whatever he wants! He'll still be able to hide whenever he needs to!" And if he had had an Inner, it would have thought: **Why does everyone always ask me that?**

"Oh!" said all the kids again, smiling. There was silence for a few seconds.

Naruto frowned slightly. "So what do you guys want, anyway?"

They all gasped. "Don't you remember, boss?" asked Konohamaru. "You promised you'd play ninja with us today!"

"Oh yeah," murmured Naruto, scratching his chin. He frowned more after a few seconds. "I'm sorry, guys, but I can't play with you today. I've got important training to do..."

"But boss!" said Konohamaru as the other three gasped again. "You promised! And a ninja should never go back on his promise! That's what you taught me!"

"Well, yeah, but..." murmured Naruto as Sakura came into view behind the four academy students. She looked upset for some reason. "I just...I just can't play ninja today, is all!"

"A ninja playing ninja? That's just twisted..." mumbled Sakura, alerting the others to her presence. The group of kids (Naruto included.) turned, backing up slightly upon seeing the look on Sakura's face. Well, all the group except Goku, who just waved with a smile on his own face.

"Uh, who's this, boss?" asked Udon nervously, pushing up his glasses.

Sakura looked at Naruto. Her eyes seemed to narrow slightly. After a few more seconds, a dawning comprehension...erm, dawned on Konohamaru's face. "Oh, I get it! You're even slicker than I thought, boss!" he said, nudging Naruto's arm as he spoke.

"Huh?" asked Naruto, worried and curious of the answer Konohamaru might give.

"I know that she's your..." and here the young child slowly lifted his fist in front of his face and then extended his pinky finger, winking and smiling. "...girlfriend!"

Sakura's eye twitched as Naruto began to laugh, blushing slightly. He was about to speak up, but Goku beat him to the punch. "What's a girlfriend?" he asked the group behind him. Everyone sweatdropped.

Sakura was no longer angry after hearing the child's innocent question (as it reminded her that, hey, they're just kids), now just annoyed. She walked over to Goku, kneeling down and smiling. "A girlfriend," she began, then thought for a second. "A girlfriend is any girl who is very special to a boy. They go out and have fun together, and they'll protect each other no matter what happens." she said. She blushed slightly, thinking of Sasuke. "They talk with each other, and laugh, and sometimes kiss..." she wasn't even annoyed anymore as her blush and smile increased. "And someday they might even get married!" And she giggled excitedly as Naruto took his turn at looking angry.

Goku had stopped listening after the first sentence or so. "So a girlfriend is a special girl..." he mumbled to himself. He smiled, then turned around. "So that means that Moegi is our girlfriend, right?" he asked, referring to all the male members of 'Team Infinity'. Konohamaru and Moegi blushed, while Udon just rolled his eyes, having encountered situations like this all too often before. Naruto and Sakura looked surprised.

"W-what?" asked Moegi, probably the most startled person there. "N-no! Goku!" she said, shaking her head as her blush increased.

"Goku...that's your name, right?" asked Sakura of the boy. He turned and nodded. "Well, Goku, part of the reason a girlfriend is special to a boy is because usually only one girl is your girlfriend, and only one boy is a girl's boyfriend."

"Oh!" said Goku, understanding. He turned back to Moegi. "So, which one of us is your boyfriend, Moegi?" he asked.

"AAAAH!" shouted Moegi, turning beyond-beet red and running away.

Goku blinked. "What did I say?" he asked as Konohmaru ran after Moegi. Udon walked over to Goku, grabbed him, and began pulling him along. "Hey! Where are you...let me go!"

Sakura sighed as the kids disappeared around the next corner. "Well, that went well," she murmured sarcastically as she stood up.

Naruto grinned. "Imagine, those guys thinking you were my girlfriend!" he said, slightly forced. With a forced laugh to go with it.

"Seriously," said Sakura, flipping her hair back. "I mean, come on. You and me together? Like _that _would ever happen."

Naruto sighed deeply, slumping. "You don't have to be so blunt about it," he mumbled.

"LET HER GO, YOU BIG BULLY!" came Konohamaru's voice from a short distance away. Naruto and Sakura started, looked at each other, and then darted forward, racing to catch up to the trouble. As they rounded the corner, they stopped, jumping slightly again at the sight before them.

Two ninja (as their forehead protectors indicated they were) from what looked to be the Hidden Sand Village were standing there. The taller, older looking (but still a teenager) one was female, with blonde hair and some metal weapon strapped to her back. The other one, who looked about a year younger than the girl, was wearing purple face-paint and a black catsuit and also had something strange strapped to his back. It appeared to be wrapped in bandages.

The most disconcerting thing about the pair, however, was that the male was lifting up Moegi by her collar and appeared to be threatening her. Thus, under Konhamaru's leadership, the three boys had apparently charged and had been knocked aside by the older boy, who was smirking. "Come on, Kankuro," said the girl ninja. "We don't have time for this."

"She ran into me," said the young man, now known to be named Kankuro. "She needs to be taught to watch where she's going."

"HEY!" shouted Naruto, breaking into a run.

Sakura breathed in sharply. "Naruto! Wait!" she said, worried.

Naruto did not heed her words as he continued to run forward, yelling all the way. "You jerk! Put her dow-woah!" he suddenly tripped for some reason. For whatever reason it was, it was apparently caused by the one called Kankuro, as his smirk increased in width.

"Kankuro," said the girl again. "Let's go, already..."

"In a minute," said the black-clad ninja, raising up his fist. "I have to take care of some business first..." and he raised up Moegi's collar. She grunted. "Aww, does that hurt?" he asked mockingly. "Heh. You know, I never really liked kids..."

The female ninja sighed. "Alright, fine. I'm not involved in any of this, okay?" she said, looking off to the side. Kankuro's smirk increased one last time as he brought his fist back a little bit more, and swung forward...

THWACK!

Kankuro dropped Moegi, grabbing his hand in pain. "Gah!" he shouted, grabbing his wrist as Moegi stumbled slightly before running to Konohamaru and the gang.

"Konohamaru!" she shouted, running into a hug. "I was so scared..."

"You little twerp! What did you do?" ask-shouted Kankuro.

"It wasn't her. It was me," came a voice from nearby. Everyone looked around in random directions as Sakura came running, joining in the group again. "Up here." Everyone looked in the same direction now, up into a nearby tree.

Sasuke sat up in aforementioned tree, gently tossing a rock up and down. His usual 'I hate everything' face was on in full force, and all its fury was directed at Kankuro, who took a step backwards involuntarily. The female, however, had a much different reaction. _-Well, well,-_ she thought, blushing slightly. _-Local hottie...-_

Kankuro stepped forward again, a large step this time. "Hey!" he shouted, obviously overcompensating for what had just happened. "What's the big idea, butting in like that? It's none of your business!"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "Get lost," he said simply, clenching his fist and turning the rock he held into dust. He unclenched his fist slightly, and the dust came falling slowly out.

Konohmaru and Moegi had long since stopped hugging, and Konohamaru was now paying attention to Sasuke. He turned to Naruto, looking angry. "Hey, boss, why can't you be cool like that?" he shouted.

Naruto got down on one knee quickly. "Hey, listen, I could do that too...I just don't want to is all!"

"Yeah, right," mumbled Konhamaru, turning away.

Naruto fumed. _-Grr! Sasuke!-_ he thought. _-Why do you always have to act like you're so much better than me?-_

"GAAH!" shouted Kankuro again, snapping Naruto from his angry thoughts. He looked to see Kankuro hopping up and down on one leg, Goku blowing a raspberry at him, and the girl laughing. "THAT'S IT!" Kankuro continued shouting, ripping the odd thing off his back and slamming it into the ground. "THIS IS WHY I HATE KIDS!"

"What?" gasped the girl, actually appearing annoyed. "Hold on! You're not really going to use the Crow here, are you?"

"Yeah, why not?" asked Kankuro, pulling on the bandages. "I mean, after all-"

"Kankuro. Knock it off," said a voice from the same tree Sasuke was in.

Everyone turned to look. There, standing on branch (upside-down) was a young boy, about Naruto's age, with red hair and a large gourd strapped to his back. His outfit was a bit odd, but nothing that far out of the ordinary. What was strangest about the boy was the fact that he had the kanji for 'love' tattooed on his forehead in what appeared to be blood-red paint. Sasuke started. _-How...I didn't even hear him get up here. Only Jonin with years of experience are that smooth.-_ His eyes narrowed. _-What's this guy's story?-_

"O-of course," said Kankuro, hastily putting his strange weapon back on his back. "That's cool. Whatever you say."

The currently-upside-down boy blinked once, then turned to Sasuke. _-He was able to stop Kankuro with a pebble,-_ he thought. _-This one bears watching...-_ "Sorry to cause trouble for you," he said out loud, monotonic and not actually seeming that sorry.

As the scene played out similarly to the way it had in several dimensions before it, yet another new face watched from a nearby alley, a far enough distance away not to be noticed by the shinobi in front of her. She watched them for several minutes, feeling somewhere in her heart that something important was here. Her blue eyes suddenly closed in pain as she reached up and grabbed her head, reeling. _-Those two...-_ she thought, steadying herself. _-They're...-_ And she suddenly ran off, black cloak flapping slightly around her feet.

Meanwhile, the three newcomers from the sand had turned and begun walking away. Sasuke seemed to consider things momentarily. "Hey," he shouted. "What's your name?"

"Who, me?" asked the girl, turning. "My name's Temari!" she smiled.

"Not you," said Sasuke, annoyed. "The one with the gourd on his back!:

"Wait, so you're..." began Temari. She sighed. "Figures. The good-looking ones always are." The redhead, meanwhile, turned while Naruto giggled, Sakura giggled despite herself, Sasuke became even more annoyed, and the little kids were confused.

The redhead finished turning. "My name is Gaara. Of the Desert." He leaned his head to the side slightly. "What is yours?"

Sasuke smirked. "Sasuke Uchiha."

"Very well, Sasuke Uchiha," said Gaara. "I look forward to seeing you again." And he turned again, now facing away from the leaf shinobi.

As he left, Sasuke's mouth was grimly set, determination locked into his eyes. Yet, that locked-in determination was in turn locking up something else, trying to hide it from the world...was that happiness in Sasuke Uchiha's eyes? "As do I, Gaara of the Desert." He smiled slightly, or at least did something similar to smiling. "As do I."

_-How come no one ever asks me for my name?-_ thought Naruto, slumping again.

**0-0-0-0**

A few hours later, just outside of the city, the same blue eyed girl sat, concentrating. An older man, perhaps in his early thirties, rested his hand on her head. She seemed uncomfortable, but did not resist. She never liked the other members of the organization she belonged to all that much, and she outright hated the man she had been paired up with.

The girl concentrated all the more, hoping to get the contact jutsu over with quickly. She closed her blue eyes, clearing her mind of excess thoughts. Around the world, several other people did the same thing. Finally, with one last push of chakra, she opened her eyes.

Blackness surrounded her. She was standing, not floating, though there was nothing below her to stand on. There was no air in this place either, but then one does not need air when traveling across the landscape of one's mind.

She looked around, trying to ignore the hand of the man she was with, whom was grasping her shoulder now. He let go and stepped forward after a few seconds, as eleven other people appeared, one by one, on the mental terrain. Though the blackness never disappeared, it seemed to turn into something else wherever one of the people stood. For instance, underneath the older man, there appeared to be lava, though he stood upon it like it was a wooden floor, ignoring its heat and shifting waves and uncontrolled bubbling. Yet despite the fact that there was lava there, there was even more obviously darkness somehow.

"Greetings," the man said. "It has been far too long since we've met. I would ask how you all are, but you would not be able to answer." And he was right; it took all one's concentration to maintain oneself on a mindscape not one's own. Trying to talk would likely remove a person from the scenario altogether. The only reason the man was able to talk was that his real body was making physical contact with the person holding the meeting and concentrating enough for the both of them.

Everyone nodded their heads in acknowledgment, except one figure who was clouded completely in shadow. The older man turned to this one. "Leader, I am glad you could join us." The Leader nodded this time, acknowledging the older man's servitude and nothing more. And they both knew it. The older man turned to the group at large again. "Orochimaru has made contact with us again."

Everyone shared a glance or two with another member or two at this information. Orochimaru had left their group a long time ago. Why would he be talking to them again now?

"He gave us much valuable information that will help us in our plans," said the man in charge of this meeting, or at least the only man speaking in this meeting. "My partner volunteered," and here the girl cringed, telling everyone with her body language that volunteering had very little to do with it (not that anyone cared), "To go into the Village Hidden in the Leaves and confirm Orochimaru's words." He paused momentarily."The information given was correct. Two of the Jinchuuriki are participating in the Chunin exams."

Everyone but the Leader started at this tidbit of information, but did not look to either the right or the left. The Leader simply leaned forward slightly, looking (as much as anyone who is in the shadows all the time can look) intrigued. The man speaking took note of this and smiled slightly underneath his mask.

"I do not know why he gave us this information," continued the masked man. "Nor do I know how he was able to locate us." A slight movement forward with the next words. "But this is a valuable opportunity we have been presented with. My partner and I will make preparations to head back into town and obtain the two Jinchuuriki."

At this the leader suddenly raised his hand. A signal to stop. The hand slowly came back down, and he pointed at two of the other members. One of them moved slightly, surprised. Then, both nodded.

The masked man paused for a moment. "Understood," he said to the Leader. "We will wait until those two arrive in Konoha. Four of us will have a much better chance of isolating and capturing the two than two alone shall." But behind his back, where no one could see but his partner, he squeezed one of his wrists where his arms were crossed. A show of disagreement.

Everyone nodded again, agreeing with his "agreement". Everyone, that is, but the girl behind the man, who looked saddened and a little scared. She crossed her arms in front of herself, though the black and red cloak she wore hid her body language from prying eyes.

"Good, then," said the masked man. "I believe that is all the pressing business we have to take care of." And he brought his head down slightly. "Before we go, though, I wish to give you all some words of advice." He turned to the Leader. "Except, of course, for you...sir."

The Leader nodded again, suddenly fading from the meeting. He obviously had better things to do than stick around. Everyone turned back to the masked man, even his partner, who still seemed uncomfortable despite the fact that no one was threatening or even touching her at the moment.

The masked man closed his eyes. "From what I hear, we are coming up against tougher and tougher situations lately." And he opened them again. "But take heart. These troubles will not last forever." And he brought up his hand now, clenching it as he said his next sentence. "We are the great powers of this world. And one day, we will rule this world." And he brought his hand down again. "But, then, you knew that already."

Everyone laughed at this, or at least everyone who normally would laugh at a joke did. The laughing was not heard, though, merely seen in their bodies.

The masked man narrowed his right eye. "My piece of advice is simply this: always remember that we are Organization XIII. And we..." and he slowly closed his eyes, "...will..." and he opened them sharply on his next word. "...conquer!"

A short silence. "Meeting adjourned," said the masked figure, disappearing from the setting of their rendezvous. The others followed suit rapidly. The girl stayed behind in her own mind, watching her contemplations slowly float by for a few seconds. Then, with a sigh and a sad look to no one in particular, she left as well.

* * *

"But there is good news," said the Third. Everyone paid just a slight bit more attention than they were a second ago. Sarutobi smiled. "I just saved aa bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to Geico!"

You have no idea how tempted I was to put that line there, even if it wouldn't have made sense. Anyway, a few things to note here, and then you can go.

Firstly, yes that is Goku from Dragonball Z. Also: no, that is not Goku from Dragonball Z. It's the same character, yes, but I based him more off of his original Dragonball incarnation, hence why he's a little kid here. If you haven't seen the original Dragonball...just imagine Goku, but smaller. You've basically got him and his personality. He can't fly, though.

Secondly, I did not replace any of the Akatsuki members, though their new name is indeed Organization XIII in reference. That means there will be four new members of the "Akatsuki" by the time this fic is over, and one of them will actually be from the original Organization XIII. Go ahead, guess which one! So much fun, guess which one, so much fun, guess which one! Yay singing!

My word, I feel feminine all of a sudden. Thirdly...more disclaimers!

**DISCLAIMER2: **I do not own the name or concept of Organization XIII. The group first appeared in the Kingdom Hearts series, which is owned by (to quote the Kingdom Hearts wiki) "Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd., The Walt Disney Company, as well as their subsidiaries and affiliated companies." The creator of this series is Tetsuya Nomura, who can write a good story but can't make it make sense. I kid, I kid...

**DISCLAIMER3: **I do not own Goku as a character. The character first appeared as part of Dragonball, a series whose copyright info is as follows: beats me. If anyone can inform me, that'd be awesome. In the meantime, I know Akira Toriyama created Dragonball though I don't know if I spelled his name right. Hold on while I check...

...yeah, I did. **DISCLAIMER4: **Mulan is copywritten by the Walt Disney Company. Boy that was short.

Finally: I'm not taking requests to put in characters, except on rare occasions. Like this one: win a contest and get a prize! That prize being the opportunity to request a character from any show, video game, book, etc. to be represented in my fic as a ninja or civilian or otherwise. What's the contest? Be the first person to review or PM telling me: who are the three characters under Mulan's care? Or, rather, what universe do they originally come from? The first one's a dead giveaway, the second should be obvious but not a dead giveaway, and the third one? Well, there's a lot of Simons out there. Deadline for the contest (in other words, the point where no one wins if no one has by then) is...whenever I post the chapter that they actually appear in. I don't know when that'll be, yet.

...goodness gracious, that was long. Well, if you've read all this: have a great day! And if you haven't read all this but are still seeing this line: Have a great day! And if you haven't read any of this: how are you seeing this? And see you next chapter!


	3. Pranks and Exams Go Hand in Hand

**DISCLAIMER 5: **The business Geico is not owned by me. I knew there was something I forgot to mention last chapter...

Also, good news!...for one guy. For everyone else, bad news: an anonymous reviewer named DrTempo has correctly guessed whom the characters are! I'm still not going to mention them, but if you're desperate to know, just check out the reviews for chapter two of this fan fiction. Anyway, Mr. Dr. Tempo, leave another review or send me a PM with the character you desire be represented in this fiction, and any limitations or requests you have in how they are presented.

Oh, and a quick warning before going into this chapter: some of the dialogue around the middle-upper part will sound forced. This was done on purpose, and exactly why it was done will become very obvious as you continue reading. Just letting you know.

**DISCLAIMER: **Naruto is written and drawn by Masashi Kishimoto, and therefore most of the credit and money for it goes to him. Thumbs up, bro!

_Optional song to listen to during this chapter: 'I'm In Over My Head_', _by a band called Lit. I do not own the lyrics, melody, singers, backup, or instrument used to record the song, nor was it my idea. In other words, it doesn't belong to me._

...I think that's everything, but I always have a habit of forgetting things. Oh well, enjoy.

* * *

It was the next day. Kakashi had wanted to meet everyone at the bridge at 6:00 AM sharp. It was now 9:03. AM, though really, no one would be surprised if it had been PM. Naruto had gotten angrier and angrier as time went on, pacing the bridge because he had very little else to do otherwise. Sakura had also gotten angrier, but had chosen to stay still, conversing with her Inner without even realizing she had one. Sasuke, of course, was brooding.

Or at least, that all was what had happened for a couple hours. At approximately 8:30, Naruto had reached the final level of the waiting game: 100 percent bored. "Ahh! I'm tired of just sitting around doing nothing!" he said, stomping in place.

Sakura nodded in agreement. "Mm-hmm," she said, confirming what she had just said with body language. Sasuke closed his eyes, tilting his head slightly. This was his way of nodding in agreement.

Naruto actually walked off the bridge after receiving these affirmative responses. "That's it, I'm leaving!"

"Naruto!" scolded Sakura. "You can't just leave!" **Although I feel like doing so myself...stupid Kakashi-sensei!** her inner thought. "As students, we are obligated to wait until our teacher arrives!" **Even if he is chronically late all the time...**

"Like I care!" said Naruto in response, beginning to walk again. "He sure doesn't seem to."

"Naruto..." growled Sakura in warning, hands on her hips.

Naruto ignored her, as he was wont to do. "See you guys later. I'm getting out of here to get some ramen!" And he began mumbling. "Be a lot better than sitting around, doing nothing but waiting for our stupid sensei-"

Naruto's head made quite an interesting noise upon hitting the ground.

"Naruto!" shouted Sakura, forgetting her annoyance with him (and with Kakashi) and running over to him. Sasuke blinked, then smirked and chuckled slightly.

"Arrg..." said Naruto, rubbing his head as Sakura arrived. "I'm fine, don't worry..." he said as Sasuke, somewhat reluctantly, started walking over as well. "Really. I'm fine."

"You sure?" asked Sakura.

"Positive," said Naruto. He looked back. "What did I trip over?" and he picked up the offending object. "What's this?" he mumbled, staring at it.

"It's a stick, moron," said Sasuke simply as he reached them.

Naruto's face shifted into anger mode. "I know that," he said, standing up. Sakura bent her back up straight again. "That was, um..." and he thought for a second. "...you know, one of those questions you don't really want an answer to, but you ask anyway."

"A rhetorical question, Naruto." said Sakura.

"Yeah, that," said Naruto, not really paying attention. He looked at the stick some more. Then, at exactly 8:32, he got his idea.

"Another prank?" Sakura asked tiredly, though her Inner yelled for glee: **Cha! Kakashi will never know what hit him! Let's do it!** Sasuke's ears perked up despite himself.

"Yeah, 'another prank'," said Naruto with barely-retrained glee. "And here's how we're gonna do it!"

So, back to 9:03...well, 9:04 now. The students were waiting patiently (and by waiting 'patiently' I mean 'with occasional giggles and fidgeting') for their sensei. After another minute or so, he poofed in in the usual spot. "Sorry I'm late," he said, left eye hidden and right eye closed. "Afraid I got lost on the path of life." He waited a few seconds for Sakura and Naruto's usual 'you did not!'. That didn't come. "Hmm?" he asked, opening his eye.

Upon one end of the bridge was a very conspicuous fake bush, which one could hear giggling from. On the bridge was a book, the latest in the series of Icha Icha novels. Above the book was a box, the same one that Konohamaru and the gang had used. The box was held up by a small stick, which was tied to a string. "This is gonna be so awesome!" said Naruto from behind the 'bush'.

Kakashi sweatdropped as Sasuke spoke up. "Quiet, idiot! He'll hear you!"

"Okay, you guys," said Kakashi, dropping down from his slightly-worn-in spot. He walked towards the box. "You really think I'd be stupid enough to fall for this?" And he stepped around the box. However, after stepping around it, he took a giant step forward instead of a normal one, as if purposefully stepping over something. "A tripwire hidden behind a purposefully obvious prank. Let me guess, I drop my guard just in time to be hit by a whole can of paint?"

The three Genin sprang up from behind the bush. Kakashi noticed that Sakura had various colors of paint sploshes all over her, but decided that it would be for the best if he neglected to mention it. "Aw, come on!" said Naruto. "I was sure that would work!"

"Nice job, loser," said Sasuke, going back into brooding mode. Hands in pockets and everything. "And here I was, thinking you were 'prankster king' or something."

"HEY! It's not my fault he saw the wire!" said Naruto.

"Of course it is!" shouted Sakura, waving her arms in the air. "I told you that 'wire only' was the way to go! The box made everything too obvious!"

"Alright, alright, break it up," said Kakashi with very little enthusiasm. Truth be told, he actually kind of liked seeing where these little spats went...as long as they didn't happen very often.

His students paid him no mind. "He probably saw the wire because part of it was in the shadow of the box," said Sasuke. "Way to go, Naruto."

"You agreed to it!" said Naruto, defending himself. "Both of you!" he said, pointing to Sakura. "It's you guys's fault too!"

"Yeah, but you're the one who came up with the idea," pointed out Sasuke.

"Now we're probably gonna have to do extra training..." groaned Sakura. "And we didn't even get to see the prank work..."

Naruto, meanwhile, looked mad. It was obvious he wanted to spread the blame around. "Yeah, well...Sasuke's supposed to be the stealthy one! Why didn't he disguise the wire better?"

"Guys, come on," said Kakashi, now bored. "It's time to train now. And yes, there _will _be extra training. I also have some news for-"

"And you, Sakura!" said Naruto, turning to her once again. As did his pointing finger.

"Me?" she asked incredulously.

"Yeah, you!" shouted Naruto. "You're supposed to be the smart one, so why didn't you think of something better! Come on, isn't there a brain behind that gigantic forehead of yours?"

There was a long, long silence. If Naruto had been more accustomed to silences, he could have identified this particular one as 'ominous'. "What?" Sakura finally responded as Sasuke and Kakashi slowly backed away, scared and just a little desperate.

Naruto rushed forward bravely. And stupidly. "I said that you should have thought of something! Come on, Sakura? Are you _really _as smart as everyone says?" Sakura was now visibly shaking with rage. "I mean, you did try and open that paint can with your hands, and then when I gave you the screwdriver you got the paint all over you every single time you opened one!" Sakura bent over slowly towards the stick as Sasuke stumbled backwards, falling on the ground. "I wonder if you're lying about anything else," Naruto murmured as Sakura slowly picked up aforementioned stick, which also happened to be the one Naruto had tripped over. Naruto looked at her. "Are you really a girl or are you just pretending that, too?"

"Naruto..." said Sakura in a voice that sounded absolutely demonic.

Naruto looked on the verge of wetting himself. "Yipe," he said, finding the perfect words to describe a bad situation when no one else could, before running off extremely quickly. Very extremely quickly.

"NARUTOOOOO!" Sakura shouted as a war cry before running off after him.

Kakashi sighed deeply, bowing his head. "Here we go again..."

Sasuke frowned slightly, still scared. "I'll go get them..." he mumbled, standing up and walking, a bit shakily, after the two.

"Good," said Kakashi. "Oh, wait, I have some news for..." he stopped, because Sasuke was gone. He sighed again, vaguely hearing the three shouting some more along with miscellaneous noises of violence. _-Maybe they really aren't ready,-_ he thought. _-I mean, I've seen them bicker before, but Naruto has never said anything like that. Their teamwork needs a lot of work.- _He thought for a second. _-Actually, now that I think about it, that doesn't seem like Naruto at all...nor does it seem like Sakura to get _that _angry,-_ And he thought some more. _-I wonder...-_

"AAAAAAAAAAH!" Sakura screamed, closely followed by a curse from Sasuke.

"Kakashi! Kakashi-sensei, get over here NOW!" Sasuke shouted.

Kakashi's eyes widened as he considered the possibilities, dashing towards the alley the children had ended up in. He got there, prepared for the worst, and yet was still surprised. He would have been more than surprised, but his brain shut down too quickly after seeing what he saw.

Sasuke was apparently traumatized if body language was any indication. Sakura was on her knees, crying heavily. The stick she had been holding was now broken in two, and both halves were stained red. Most disturbing of all, though, was Naruto, who was lying in a pool of his own blood, and looked beaten and broken.

Sakura sobbed again. "Oh my gosh..." she mumbled through her tears. "What have I done?"

Sasuke looked over his shoulder at Kakashi, who was slowly coming around to 'shocked and disturbed'. "I-I tried to stop her!" he shouted, eyes widened in horror. "But she's freakishly strong!" He looked around, obviously afraid someone would see them in their current...er, 'situation'. "Oh man...oh man..."

Sakura sobbed again, turning to Kakashi. "Oh! If only you hadn't been late!" she cried, the epitome of agony.

Kakashi blinked once. Then he closed his eyes and smiled, catching on. "Ah, yes, the old 'make your teacher think one of his students is dead' prank," he said as Sasuke experienced a very weird facial expression and Sakura stopped 'crying'. "Completely juvenile, inappropriate, probably crosses the line from 'harmless prank' to 'morally wrong'..." and he paused, leaning his chin on his hand. "...and I pulled it off more than once when I was about your age." He nodded. "Good times," he said, as Sasuke and Sakura shared surprised and worried looks. "Alright, Naruto, get up. Joke's over."

There was a long silence. Sakura slowly stood up again during it. Though she no longer sobbed, tears fell like rain from her eyes. "This isn't a joke, Kakashi-sensei." She looked downward, shamed. "I...I killed Naruto."

"Ha, ha, very funny," said Kakashi, walking past Sasuke and Sakura on his way to Naruto.

"This is serious!" shouted Sasuke to his sensei. "We have to go get help! Someone might still be able to save him! Some special jutsu or something!"

Kakashi ignored him, bending over his 'dead' student. He shook Naruto gently. "Wakey, wakey," he said. He waited a few seconds. "Hmm?" he said, realizing something rather important. You see, by sheer coincidence, Kakashi had laid his hand upon Naruto's heart to shake him. And his heart wasn't beating. "No," Kakashi breathed, eyes widening again as he unzipped Naruto's jacket. He leaned his head over, listening for any faint beats that might, just might, still be happening. "...he's dead!" gasped out Kakashi, rocking backwards.

"No freaking duh!" shouted Sasuke as Sakura began sobbing again. "I saw her impale him with the freaking stick! I don't know HOW, but she DID, and now he's DEAD!"

Kakashi turned on Sakura, hellfire blazing in his eyes and cries of the damned evident in his voice. "Do you have ANY idea how much trouble you are in?" he growled/shouted at Sakura.

She sobbed again. "I know..." she gasped out. "I'm sorry...I'm so, so sorry..."

Kakashi turned again, now to Sasuke. "Get help," he said. Sasuke remained there, apparently frozen. "NOW!" Sasuke started and turned, running away. Kakashi leaned over Naruto again, face softening as he contemplated all the good times he and his loudmouth student had had. "Don't worry..." he said, gently lifting Naruto's head and cradling it. "It's going to be okay. We'll save you."

"...sob...choke...heh heh..."

"Huh?" Kakashi was now very worried that Sakura had decided it would be for the best if there were no survivors to act as witnesses.

"BWA HA HA!" Sakura started laughing uproariously. Kakashi moved an inch or two away from her. He got even more worried when Sasuke came back from wherever he had (hadn't) run off to, laughing as well. And Sasuke never laughed.

He really got worried when Naruto started laughing too. "What the?" he said, looking at the 'corpse' in his arms. It vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving a trash can (thankfully empty) behind, covered in fake blood and dressed in Naruto's usual outfit. "Substitution?" exclaimed Kakashi, eye widening. _-That explains the lack of a heartbeat,-_ he thought to himself as Naruto, in his underwear, dropped down from whatever hiding place he had been skulking around in. _-That was actually pretty clever of these three...maybe they're ready for the Chunin exams after all.-_

"Oh man, you should have seen the look on your face!" said Naruto, laughing again after he was done. Kakashi blinked, now angry, but not nearly as angry as he was about to let on.

Sasuke grinned, a very rare occurrence indeed. "Would you and the trash can like a moment alone?" And they all broke into laughter again. _Now_ Kakashi was as angry as he let on.

Sakura was crying again, not out of false sadness this time but rather because of her laughing far too hard. "I guess that'll teach you to be late, huh, Kakashi-sensei?" And she laughed harder than ever.

Kakashi's eyes narrowed. Oh, they were going to get a _lot_ of extra training today.

**0-0-0-0**

It was just a few minutes later, and walking back to the bridge were 'our heroes'. The three genin had finally managed to stop laughing sometime around the time where Kakashi had started crossing his arms and tapping his foot. Now their sensei was ranting out his punishment. "300 push-ups! Ninety tree-climbing exercises! 500 kicks and punches! 200 shuriken, on the bulls-eye!"

"Aw, come on," said Naruto, who was still smiling despite the impending punishment. "You said it yourself: you pulled off this prank when you were our age!"

"Yeah, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said, smiling as well while Kakashi took a few deep breaths. (Sasuke, meanwhile, had a self-satisfied smirk on his face. This was his version of smiling.) "I mean, you didn't seem this angry back in the alleyway..."

"That was before I thought Naruto was really dead!" said Kakashi, turning and steaming. Almost literally steaming, but not quite. The air was rather hot, though.

"Huh?" asked Sakura. Then she frowned, putting her hands on her hips. "Wait a minute, so part of whether we get punished for a prank is determined by whether you fall for it?"

"In a word: yes." Sasuke did not react to Kakashi's words, but the other two narrowed their eyes in aggravation at this. Kakashi sighed. "I don't even want to know where Naruto got that much fake blood..."

"Hmph," hmphed Sasuke. Amazing how a person can say so much with one word.

Sasuke's 'hmph' caught Kakashi's attention, reminding him of something else he wanted to include in his rant. "And you, Sasuke...how on earth did you let yourself get talked into this? Pranks most definitely _aren't_ your usual thing."

Sasuke closed his eyes, smirk shrinking slightly. "Just call it revenge for showing up so late so often."

Kakashi sighed. "Revenge, huh?" he asked, shaking his head. "Well, I hope that kind of thing doesn't become a habit for you..." he looked directly at Sasuke for a few seconds after saying that. "Or at least try and keep it small-scale stuff, okay?"

Sasuke opened his eyes again, smirk disappearing. "A lecture on revenge?" he asked, annoyed and a little scared of the fact that their Copy Ninja-sensei seemed to know more about him than he should. "What brought this on all of a sudden?"

_-A dangerous look in your eye,-_ thought Kakashi. Out loud: "Oh, just some general teacher-to-student wisdom that all good senseis pass on to their students. Part of the job, you know?"

"You're actually trying to teach us stuff?" Naruto asked skeptically. He put his arms behind his head, eyes closed. "First time for everything, I guess..."

"Okay, just for that," said Kakashi, "Fifty extra push-ups. For all of you."

"Way to go, Naruto..." grumbled Sakura. Naruto looked downcast, albeit only slightly. Mainly he looked angry.

Kakashi shook his head one last time. "I swear, you guys..." and he left the sentence hanging in the air as he turned around and walked back onto the bridge.

In the instant between when Kakashi felt the pressure on his foot and when he was covered, head to toe, in various colors of paint, he remembered the tripwire was still there.

**0-0-0-0**

"The Village Hidden in the Leaves," said a female ninja standing atop a tree very nearby the village she had just mentioned. Her forehead protector, actually worn around the forehead (perhaps slightly above it) for once, showed she was a Grass ninja. She smiled. "We're finally here, girls."

Two more ninja, also female and about the first one's age, landed next to her. "Thank goodness," said the one to the original's right, protector worn as an armband. "I was starting to get all sweaty. Not to mention the fact that travel is boring as all get-out."

"Aw, you think everything is boring," said the last ninja of the group, protector wrapped around her ankle. She smiled. "Hey, you think that maybe, when we get into town, we could buy some blowing bubbles?"

"No," said the first ninja, leaping off the tree. The second soon followed.

The one with the ankle protector frowned. "Aww, but that sounds like fun..." she perked back up after a few seconds of sulking, jumping off the tree as well. "Well, how about we see if they have a spa?" she asked, catching up to her team.

"No," said the first ninja again. The second rolled her eyes in exasperation. Not just annoyance, but outright exasperation. It had been a _long_ trip.

"Okay," said the third as they continued walking. She put her finger on her chin, looking upwards slightly. "What if we saw the Hokage monument! I hear it's really big! Like huge!" And she waved her arms around, making various weird noises as if that would somehow emphasize how big it was.

"No," said the first ninja, getting annoyed.

"Well, then, how about we go see a play?" asked the third one, plugging onwards.

"No!"

"Well, how about-"

"NO!"

"How did you do that? You didn't even know what I was going to say! Did you read my mind?"

"We're here," said the ninja with the armband almost completely monotonously. The 'almost' came from the slight hint of relief in her voice.

"AAAH!" shrieked the third, causing the other two to draw their kunai and look around anxiously.

There was a long silence.

"Puppy!" she continued, running towards the open gates, causing her companions to facefault and the guards on duty to sweatdrop.

**0-0-0-0**

Kakashi would always maintain that that training session was much tougher for him than it was for his students.

They had it tough, of course, with all the extra physical tasks they had to do, but Kakashi had suffered much, much more. After all, his students weren't the ones getting laughed at by every person who walked by the training grounds. And it hadn't helped when people started coming back and setting up chairs. And bringing their friends.

But now, the day was over, and Kakashi was at home, sitting in a nice, warm bath. With bubbles, of course. And the newest book in the Icha Icha series. So far it was definitely worth letting that box fall on him. Kakashi thought carefully about his day as he read. It was a kind of double focus that came naturally with having one eye be normal and one be Sharingan that allowed him to do this.

_-'Look underneath the underneath,'- _he thought. _-How could they twist my words like that? What a shameful corruption of a wise saying. Maybe I should go into the greeting card industry, where I'll be a bit more appreciated.- _That's how they'd responded when he'd asked their motives the first time. 'Teaching him to look underneath the underneath.' It was really annoying to hear. Kakashi sighed. _-We probably could have avoided all of this if only I'd been an hour earlier. Oh well, next time I suppose.- _He thought, not meaning a word of it.

He actually would have been a hour earlier (and thus only two hours late) that day, but he'd needed to catch up with an old friend of his from a very old mission. It had been far too long since he'd seen Apollo and his forehead comparable to Sakura's. _-I swear I could see myself in that dome of his!-_ thought Kakashi, chuckling. He reached up under his towel-mask to scratch his lips. Kakashi had a problem with itchy lips when his usual mask (or, rather, six masks) was off. _-I don't think I'd have given up _that _visit even if I'd known about their little prank. Maybe if I'd done something else this morning before talking to him, though,-_ he continued, not really meaning his next sentence. _-Like maybe if I'd skipped signing up my students for the Chunin exams.- _And he chuckled again.

A short silence as Kakashi turned the next page in his book. He read silently in his head. This was always the best part, where the heroine confessed her love for the hero-

_-The Chunin exams!-_ Kakashi thought, his eyes widening as he leapt quickly out of the bathub, dropping his book on the bathroom floor and wrapping a towel around his lower half as he ran furiously out his door.

A nearby woman screamed in shock and embarrassment.

**0-0-0-0**

"No more ramen, please..." mumbled Naruto, who had gone to sleep earlier than usual after his extra-tiring workout. "Don't want to look bloated while I'm being instated as Hokage, after all...hurm?" he grumbled suddenly, blinking his eyes open in response to the hand on his shoulder, gently shaking him.

"Psst, Naruto," said a voice. Naruto turned over in his bed to see...

...what looked to be a completely naked Kakashi in a different kind of mask than usual.

"GAAAAH!" shouted Naruto, leaping out of bed and away from his sensei, whom he could thankfully see was wearing pants now. No, wait, it was just a second towel. Naruto wasn't sure whether Kakashi in a towel was better or worse than Kakashi being completely naked. Probably better.

"Hi there!" waved Kakashi.

"HI THERE?" repeated Naruto, whisper-shouting so as to not wake up any of his fellow apartmenters. "You come into my room naked in the middle of the night and all you can say is 'Hi there!'?"

Kakashi blinked, looked at the clock, and looked back. "It's only 9:18."

"OH, CAUSE THAT MAKES SUCH A BIG DIFFERENCE!"

Kakashi sighed. "And after all the trouble I went to in order to get this to you," he murmured 'sadly' as he lifted up a piece of paper.

Naruto squinted at it. "What is it?" he asked.

"Oh, nothing much," said Kakashi. "Just your entrance to the Chunin exams is all. You'll need it."

Naruto blinked, twice. "Chunin exams?" he mumbled, still a little sleepy. Then he rubbed the back of his head, sheepish. "Oh, yeah, Konohamaru mentioned those...I guess with all the excitement I forgot to ask you about them."

"And I forgot to give these to you guys," Kakashi laughed, moving the paper in his hand towards his student. "Oh well. Better late than never."

Naruto laughed too. "Right. So, they take place tomorrow, then?" he asked, taking his paper.

"Oh, no," said the towel-clad ninja. "The day after! That's why you've got the day off of training tomorrow. Don't want to push yourself too hard, after all!"

There was a silence, neither short nor long, before Naruto spoke up. "...so you could have just given me this tomorrow morning, right?"

"Exactly," nodded Kakashi, gleeful expression remaining unchanged.

"...and you're still going to give us all these things tonight, aren't you?"

"Nope," said Kakashi, expression still a constant. "Already have."

"...so how hard did Sakura punch you?"

"Pretty hard," responded Kakashi, rubbing his cheek but not changing his expression.

"I see," said Naruto, drawing out the last syllable in order to give himself time to wrap his head around the current situation. "So is that it, then?"

"Yep," said Kakashi, turning to leap back out the window he came in. He stopped suddenly. "Actually, there is one more thing."

"Hmm?" asked Naruto, looking up.

Kakashi turned his head. "Just keep in mind that you're free to choose to not take these exams. I'm not forcing you or anything." He closed his eye, and Naruto thought he smiled too. "That's all." And he leapt out the window.

Naruto stared after his teacher for a few seconds before looking at the piece of paper in his hand. _-There's an awful lot of info about me on here...-_ thought Naruto. _-I wonder why they need it all.-_

"Oh, one more thing, actually."

"GAH!" shouted Naruto, falling over away from the window Kakashi's head was poking through.

Kakashi smiled again. "A word of advice: you really need to clean your room."

"And you really need to put on some pants!" shouted back Naruto almost instantly.

"Hmm, heh, hmm," laughed Kakashi, an odd sort of laugh. "Do I? Do I really?" And with those disturbing parting words, he was gone.

Naruto sweatdropped, deciding to ask the ANBU to please erase his memory later. Then he looked back down at his card. _-The Chunin exams...-_ he thought to himself. Then he smiled. "Heh. Bring 'em on."

**0-0-0-0**

Meanwhile, in a forest very near to the village, Team Eight was finishing up for the day. They said their goodbyes to each other, Shino and Kiba heading off in different directions and Hinata turning to a third, but not actually leaving the training site. She sighed. Kurenai, who was, of course, Hinata's sensei, noticed her female student hadn't left and thus walked over to her. "Hinata?" she asked gently. "Are you alright?"

Hinata sighed. "Not really," she murmured softly. She didn't always stutter, but she always was quiet.

Kurenai's brow furrowed. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"

Hinata looked up. "The Chunin exams," she murmured, pulling at the straps of her backpack. (They had been survival-training that day, and Kurenai had let one of them bring a pack along.)

Kurenai smiled sympathetically, placing her hand on Hinata's shoulder. Hinata gave a small smile back. "You want to talk about it?" asked the teacher of the student.

Hinata nodded slightly. "Um...if it isn't too much trouble, yes."

**0-0-0-0**

Neji Hyuuga believed in 'early to bed, early to rise'. Tenten did not.

Still, Neji had already gone to bed, and Tenten couldn't train with him that well when he was already asleep...and there was _no way_ she was asking Lee to train with her. And she couldn't really train without a partner. Her aim was already perfect, for her own sake! She just needed to work on hand-to-hand combat, was all.

She sighed. _-I hope I'm ready,-_ she thought to herself. She thought over the possibilities tomorrow might bring. _-The Chunin exams,-_ she thought, continuing with the possibilities of the day after tomorrow. She sighed. _-Well, no use in pondering them all night long.-_ She stood up. _-Just gotta believe in myself.-_ She smiled, looking up at the moon. _-I'm gonna show the world who I really am someday!-_

**0-0-0-0**

Shikamaru Nara leaned back in his seat. His mom and dad were out on a mission of some kind, so he was stuck home by himself. And they'd left a precooked meal for him. Awesome.

He shut his eyes, trying to decide whether it would be worth the effort the get out of the chair and move to his bed before he went to sleep. Since this was not a very important issue, he let his mind wander a little bit. And it eventually wandered to a file in the vast library called 'his brain' that was marked:

_-The Chunin exams.-_ thought Shikamaru, opening his eyes again. He blinked, three and a half times. The other half of his blink was when his eyes stayed shut again. _-What a drag. I wish Ino wasn't making me do this.-_ He shook his head, very very slightly.

After twenty minutes, he finally mustered up the effort to stand up and walk upstairs to his bed.

**0-0-0-0**

Mulan sat on the roof of a building across from a restaurant. It wasn't bare-bones like Ichiraku's, nor was it ultra-fancy like some of the places she liked going to on occasion. Inside the In-Between Place (as the restaurant was apparently aware of its somewhere-in-between status), her students sat.

The one with braces was smiling and laughing, though it looked a little fake, while the one with a pair of goggles _and _a forehead protector, both on his head, was just smiling. And it didn't look faked. They were both watching the third member of their group, who was juggling three glasses (empty) with his eyes closed. The waiter looked worried. Also not fake.

"The Chunin exams..." Mulan mumbled to herself. Even if she had spoken up, it is doubtful anyone would have heard her over the sound of shattering glass. She sighed. "I thought they were ready, but when I told them the exams were happening..." She stuck out her lower lip, thinking (Even though it appeared she was pouting). She sighed again, now smiling. "Well, in the end, it's their decision." She stood up. "And I need to stop worrying about it." And she leapt away, bouncing across the rooftops.

**0-0-0-0**

The three ninja from the Village Hidden in the Grass were angry.

Well, two of them were. The third was...bubbly. Literally, with the blowing bubbles she'd bought. But she was pretty bubbly metaphorically, too.

The one hotel room with three beds that they had rented was three times as expensive as they had been informed from advance scouting. They could still afford it (that was one of the perks of your team leader being filthy rich and also your teammate's father), but still...the principle of the thing.

The third member of the team stopped blowing bubbles, looking quizzical. She had just noticed that her teammates were staring, rather intently, at a piece of paper. She put the cap back on her bubbles, set those bubbles gently on the nightstand, and then bounced off the bed, landing just behind and between her teammates. She looked between the shoulders of the two at the piece of paper.

"The Chunin exams..." she murmured, understanding. Then she smiled, mind going off somewhere else. She started singing. "Chunin exa-ams! Chunin exa-ams! Chuuniiin exaaams!"

Her teammates slowly scooted away from her, sharing worried and scared glances as she continued singing.

**0-0-0-0**

The masked (and obviously evil) member of Organization XIII stared up at the guards patrolling the city he was currently standing in. And that they didn't even have a clue he'd entered. "The Chunin exams," he said, turning to his partner. She looked up. "Do you think they'll be difficult?"

She shrugged. "What does it matter?" she asked sadly, her voice an odd, almost circulatory rasp.

The man frowned just a tad beneath his mask. "They matter greatly." He paused momentarily. "If one or, heaven forbid, both our targets are destroyed during the course of them, then all of our plans are ruined."

She looked down again. "You're right," she conceded.

The man chuckled, obviously more for effect than any real feeling of joy. "Never one for talking, were you?" he asked, not expecting an answer. He received none. He turned around and began walking. "Come along," he commanded, and she slowly began trudging after him. "Neither our own organization nor the Village we are standing in wants us to be here." He looked back at her, but did not stop walking. "What do you think we should do, then?"

The girl spoke, though she did not speak up. As usual, she was whisper-quiet. "We should leave."

"My thoughts exactly," said the masked man approvingly. And they left the city as unnoticed as they'd entered.

Which is to say, not unnoticed at all.

**0-0-0-0**

In a different hotel, one closer to the gates of Konoha, the three sand ninja were gathered in the same room (though they'd rented two for sleeping.)

"So," said Kankuro, finishing up with the re-bandaging of his odd...thing. "The Chunin exams."

"Yeah," said Temari nervously.

There was a few seconds of silence.

"You nervous?" asked Kankuro.

"That we'll fail?" asked Temari.

"No. That we'll succeed."

Temari smiled. "Whether you're being sarcastic or not, the answer's still yes." And she looked over at Gaara, smile disappearing as quickly as it came. "Gaara?" she asked.

Gaara was staring out the window. "...yes?" he responded.

"Are...you nervous?" Temari asked, fearful of her teammate/brother, but still trying to reach down deep enough into the darkness to grab him and bring him out. Because he was her teammate and her brother, after all.

"No," responded Gaara, curt as usual. Looks like this wouldn't be the attempt Temari got through.

"Ah," said Temari after a bit, turning away again. Kankuro shook his head. _He'd _given up on Gaara a long time ago.

Gaara, meanwhile, was lost in his thoughts. _-Those two,-_ he thought to himself, referring not to his siblings but rather to the red-and-black cloaked people that he'd seen, by chance, just a minute or two ago. _-They didn't come in through the gates. They teleported themselves somehow.- _And he knew this to be a fact, for he had seen them teleport again to leave. The sand his gourd was made out of started bubbling slightly, going against the very nature of sand in its apparent anxiousness. _-Interesting...-_ he thought, an odd sort of thing crawling across his features. Some people might call the odd sort of thing a 'smile'. Those people would technically be correct, but it definitely didn't look like a smile on Gaara's face. It looked much more sinister than it did happy.

Temari and Kankuro stared at their brother for a few seconds, then looked at each other, no longer nervous, but instead outright worried, even though they couldn't see the smile, for they could see the bubbling. Tomorrow, they could already tell, was going to be a long day.

* * *

Go ahead and guess whom the three new characters are if you like, but you won't get a prize. No contest this time, so don't bother reviewing if all you're going to say is the answer to this little riddle.

Things continue to progress slowly, don't they? When I first envisioned this fic, I imagined big, significant changes happening all over the place...who'd have thought things would be so miniscule thus far? I do have a basic outline in my head for what happens next, though, so don't worry: by the end of the Chunin exams, everything will be different, and will get even more different as time passes.

In the meantime, I want to note: **DISCLAIMER 2: **The name 'The In-Between Place' technically isn't copyrighted by him in the books or anything, but I still got the idea for the name from reading 'The Chronicles of Narnia' series, so I wanted to give C.S. Lewis props, since he wrote those and therefore his estate owns those. Hooray for good books!

One last note, and maybe I won't have forgotten anything this time: the phrase 'for her own sake' that appears in this chapter is a pun on one of the various meanings Tenten's name can have in Japanese. I'll leave it to you to figure out which one. That's all, thanks for reading!


	4. First Day of the Rest of Your Lives

Hey, a quick question...what's the best way to perform a bank robbery? I don't plan on robbing any banks, I"m just curious.

Hello there, this is AProcrastinatingWriter with chapter four of Naruto Crossfire: Dimension 287! In this chapter, you see the identity of the three girls who showed up last chapter. Actually, DrTempo guessed that they were Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup from Powerpuff Girls Z. Well, he was wrong, and that doesn't mean they're little kid prodigies/members of the original Powerpuff Girls. But I can see how one would think that, especially with the blowing bubbles thing. But, no, the three girls...they're a _lot_ different than the Powerpuff Girls.

Speaking of DrTempo, I've gotten his requests for characters and have figured out how to incorporate them...sometime in the future. Could be a while, though, I'm sorry to say.

Anyway, **DISCLAIMER: **Masashi Kishimoto owns the rights to Naruto, along with Tokyo TV. It doesn't belong to me. Oh, and because I mentioned it, **DISCLAIMER2: **I do not own the Powerpuff Girls, which were created by Craig McKraken and shown on Cartoon Network, which had really gone downhill recently in my opinion. I also do not own Powerpuff Girls Z, which was, in fact, based off of the first series.

Alright, now that those annoyances are out of the way, you should be able to start the chapter now! Thank you very much for your time.

_Optional song to listen to during this chapter: 'Sharada' by Skye Sweetnam. This isn't even my normal style of music, so it _really _doesn't belong to me._

* * *

The next day had been a long and boring one.

Oh, not for the Genin, you understand. _Their _day was quite eventful. No, rather, for their teachers. The four Jonin in charge of the Leaf's rookie squads were bored out of their skulls, for they had all given their students the day off. And if the Chunin exams went like they usually did, they'd be bored for a while to come. So the Jonin in charge of the rookie twelve had decided to hang out together for the day. This didn't help much with the boredom.

Asuma was tempted to quote his own student, but he held his tongue. Mulan spoke up instead. "It's getting pretty late. How do you think Iruka's doing?"

Kakashi looked up from his book. He was almost halfway finished at this point. "Very well. Question is, how are our students doing?" He shrugged. "Well, I know _mine _will be okay, but..."

Asuma chuckled. "Right," he said. "I'm sure mine will be alright as well."

"Mine too," spoke up Kurenai.

"And mine," said Mulan. "Would any of really have volunteered them if we didn't believe so?"

"A good point, she raises," said Kakashi, setting his book down for the time being. "So perhaps, instead of bragging on our own students, we ask each other about them? Starting with you, Asuma. What do you think of my kids?"

Asuma chuckled again. "You really expect me to answer that?" He shook his head.

"The only people qualified to judge the genin's abilities at this point are ourselves," said Mulan. She smiled. "Besides, I don't think it would exactly put us on good terms with each other if we started criticizing each other's students."

"But it would be fu-un..." sing-songed Kakashi.

Kurenai sighed. "Kakashi, sometimes I don't know what we should do with you."

"Strip me naked, cover me in honey, and toss me into the Village Hidden in the Sand?" suggested Kakashi. Everyone stared at him, now disturbed. Kakashi shrugged. "It would be uncomfortable."

"Okay then," said Asuma. "Changing the subject..." and he smiled at Mulan. "So, how's the parents doing lately?"

"Very well, thank you," said Mulan. Her parents had also been ninja, and they had recently retired from the shinobi lifestyle, a considerable rarity considering how often ninja died in battle. An even bigger rarity considering they were two ninja, married, and neither had lost their spouse. "Though I do wonder sometimes if father really knows he's retired." Mulan shook her head and smiled. "I can't tell you how many times I've caught him practicing his swordplay when the doctors have told him that he needs to rest."

"I see," mumbled Kakashi, blinking once. "Well, not that this isn't interesting, but..." and he stood up and headed for the door that would lead out to the balcony.

"Where are you going?" asked Kurenai.

"To get some fresh air," said Kakashi as he stepped out.

Mulan frowned, deep in concentration suddenly as the door shut. "Hey, you guys..." she said, looking a little scared. "I just realized something."

"Hmm?" intoned Asuma.

"What is it?" asked Kurenai.

Mulan looked up, serious. "Kakashi showed up on time for our meeting."

The other two Jonin froze in horror as they realized the implications of this. "Oh, heck..." mumbled Asuma, the quicker to recover.

"So, then...was that-" started Kurenai. She was interrupted by the sound of the main door to the room opening.

"Hey, guys, sorry I'm late," said Kakashi, walking in. "But there was this construction worker, and he just wouldn't leave me alone about my legs, and...hm?" And he looked at the other Jonin in the room. They looked horrified. "Why are you all looking at me like I've got two heads?" He looked on his shoulder, as if somehow one could have two heads and not be aware of it. If someone could, Kakashi probably would be that someone, so maybe he was right to look.

The three looked at Kakashi for another second or two before rushing to the patio doors, anxious to catch what was obviously an imposter. Still, in their hearts they knew: the fake Kakashi was obviously long-gone by now, with who knows what kind of valuable information that they could have let slip out while they talked off and on. He was gone. They knew that the intruder was gone.

Except he was sitting right there, still looking like Kakashi. And reading Icha Icha. He looked up after a few seconds. "Oh. Hi there."

Everyone blinked a few times, stunned. Except the real Kakashi (whom you knew was real by the way he came late). "Hi yourself," he said. "Now, tell me, who are you and why do you look like me?"

"Who, me?" asked Fakeashi in a manner eerily similar to one Kakashi Hatake...almost like they were close friends or something. "I'm..."

And he suddenly poofed into something-or, rather, someone-else. "...Iruka Umino, at your service." He grinned, holding up his 'book' which had transformed its appearance back into a bunch of leaves. "Well, I guess you all aren't ready for the Chunin exams if you fell for that, are you?"

"Heh, heh heh..." chuckled everyone else there but Kakashi nervously. That could have been a real slip-up, and a real major one, at that, instead of just Iruka messing with them. "Well, hey!" said Asuma, rubbing the back of his head. "We're not the ones being judged here, are we?" and he laughed again.

"How are our students doing?" asked Mulan, stepping forward.

Iruka smiled. "They all passed with flying colors!" he said to celebratory faces. "They're definitely ready to take the Chunin exams." He looked over the small crowd in front of him at a certain famous/infamous Copy Ninja. "I guess I owe you an apology, Kakashi. They really have grown since I've taught them," and he sighed a sad sigh, though the smile did not leave his face. "Although I'm not their teacher anymore," he finished reluctantly.

"I'm glad you realize that, Iruka," said Kakashi, nodding his approval. "Now, then, about that wager we made?"

Iruka raised his left eyebrow an inch or so, smile declaring neutrality on his cheeks. "I don't remember making any wager?"

"You didn't," said Kakashi. "I was hoping to sucker you out of some money." And Mulan smacked him upside his head.

**0-0-0-0**

My, how time does fly. It was already the next day. The day of the Chunin exams. And Naruto was _pumped_.

"GAH! Where is it?"

Also hopelessly confused.

You see, Naruto had gone to bed the last night with his Chunin exam registration form securely in his back pocket (even wearing his clothes for the next day to bed to make doubly sure). When he had woken up, they weren't there.

"Where is it? Where is it?" he repeated over and over, almost literally tearing his room apart in his mad quest for the precious sheet. Many of the neighbors would have complained about the noise by now, but luckily the walls were thick. Thick enough for Naruto. That's pretty darn thick.

"OH COME ON!" Naruto shouted. "This cannot be happening...this cannot be-hey, what's this?" he asked suddenly, sitting up on his knees (for he had been crawling around looking). "Well, hey there, Tweety!" said Naruto to an open birdcage which held a yellow bird inside of it. "How'd you get the door open?"

"Tweet," chirped Tweety, as if he could understand. He flapped his wings once or twice. The left one had a bandage around it

Naruto grinned a wide grin. "Well, I guess _you're_ the culprit, then, huh? Hee hee hee," he laughed, reaching into the birdcage and grabbing the precious piece of paper from near Tweety's legs. Luckily it hadn't been shredded or soiled in any way, just a little wrinkled. "Well, hey, at least that means you're flying again!"

"Tweet!" said Tweety, almost excitedly. Naruto could swear he was smiling under that beak. Anyone else would swear Naruto had gone bonkers. But Naruto had a special attachment to the bird. You see, the newly-minted shinobi had found Tweety just a couple weeks ago, as a small chick with a broken wing. Obviously it had just learned to fly well enough to get away from its nest, but not well enough to keep from falling. So, Naruto had taken the bird to the vet, and then had actually done some research on what type of bird it was (still unknown, though the best guess the vets could come up with was a canary), and on how to take care of birds (which Naruto did surprisingly well). He'd even spent money to get someone to watch Tweety while he was on missions.

Naruto closed the door to Tweety's cage, but did not lock it as, to be honest, the objective _was_ to get the little bird to escape out the window, flying free away from the cage that had served as a makeshift hospital for broken birds. "There you go," said Naruto. He grinned again. "Thanks for looking after this for me."

"Tweet," tweeted Tweety one last time as Naruto ran out the door.

**0-0-0-0**

"Hmmph," said Sasuke annoyedly.

"...and that's the reason why I hate anything spicy," finished Sakura, ignoring Sasuke's obvious desire to not listen to her. "So, Sasuke, what kinds of foods do you like?" And cue charming smile.

A long silence.

"...I like rice," said Sasuke finally.

Luckily enough for everyone involved, it was at this moment that Naruto ran up, preventing any more awkwardness. He gasped for air as he spoke. "Sorry...I'm...late, you guys..."

"Oh, that's alright," said Sakura sincerely. "You weren't late by that much at all." **Truth be told, I wish you had come in even later...** Inner Sakura groaned.

"Funny," murmured Sasuke. "It felt like an eternity to me."

Sakura almost fell over, while Naruto took no notice. "Yeah, sorry about that. But hey, I'm here now!" He grinned. "So let's hurry! We gotta get there on time, right?"

"Right," said his friends, simultaneously. Sasuke was annoyed by the fact that he agreed with Sakura on something. With that, and unaware they were being watched, the three began running for the academy where the exams (or at least the first part of them) were being held.

Wait...unaware they were being watched?

**0-0-0-0**

Just outside the city, on top of a tree and with a telescope, sat the masked man. He had just finished making sure Gaara was, indeed, still taking the Chunin exams and was now checking up on the other local Jinchuuriki. "Hmm..." he murmured, displeased. He lowered the telescope. "Where are those two?"

He was, of course, referring to his two fellow members who had been assigned to enter the city and assist in capturing the targets. As far as he knew, they should have been nearby by now, if not already here.

The girl, his partner, laughed mirthlessly. "It's not like you to be so impatient."

He turned his blizzard gaze upon her. She flinched slightly at the feel of his eyes holding onto her face, then turned away hastily. He finally spoke up. "And it's not like you to question my actions." He raised his head slightly, now looking sideways at her. "Is something wrong?"

"No. Of course not."

"Good," said the man, lifting the telescope back to his eye. "I'm glad to hear that," He scanned the walls carefully. Guards everywhere. Well-experienced Jonin, if their battle scars were any indication. He doubted they could take this place by force. That's why they needed stealth, and copious amounts of it. To be absolutely truthful, he didn't see much point in waiting for more people to carry out a stealth mission.

"So, what's it look like?" asked the girl, somewhat interested despite her internal misgivings.

The man looked at her again, but did not set down his telescope. "Mmm...slightly tougher than since we last visited. Not really anything major, though." he said. "They've added more guards since a couple nights ago, but have made no significant changes to their defenses otherwise." He snapped the telescope shut. "Oh, well. Their loss."

**0-0-0-0**

The three Genin were standing inside the academy now. Second floor, though most of the people grouped around them hadn't realized that. _-I had to act excited outside,- _thought Sakura, _-But I'm actually really nervous.-_ She looked downward. _-Am I really ready for these exams? Sasuke...and even Naruto...they're so far ahead of me...-_

"Why don't you tell them, Sakura?"

"Huh?" asked Sakura, looking up again. She glanced around for a second before determining it was Sasuke who spoke.

"You probably noticed it before either of us," he continued. "After all, you have the best analytical skills of our group."

Sakura blinked, desperately scrambling in her mind for information, though to her credit she kept a neutral face. _-Umm, let's see, let's see...-_ she thought, very slightly panicked. _-Ah! Got it!-_ she smiled, largely mentally and slightly in reality. "Well, of course," she lied. "I saw it right away. This is only the second floor."

Everyone in the crowd began talking amongst themselves as the genjutsu dispelled. It was a very weak one; simply by pointing it out the average person's brain could dispel it on its own. Still, it had apparently fooled a lot of the ninja there. Perhaps not all of them were as 'Chunin material' as their instructors thought...

One of the two young Chunin (as everyone assumed he was) blocking the door to the 'exam halls', the one with the black, messy hair, closed his right eye, looking annoyed. "Yeah, well, don't think that means you're ready for the Chunin exams just because you can spot one little gen-"

"HEY!" shouted a voice. Very suddenly and out of nowhere. Everyone turned to look.

Standing there were three girls, about fourteen years old, from what looked to be the Hidden Grass Village (sound familiar?). The one standing in front had a cruel face, currently looking very slightly worried, with red lipstick and coal-colored hair put up in a topknot. Her clothes were primarily red, slightly baggy, and looked to be of noble origin. She wore black body armor over her clothes, though not very much and primarily around the gut and chest.

To her left, another girl, with a bored expression on her face and no makeup. Her black hair was mostly up in two buns, but parts of it hung down the sides of her face. She wore a red kimono with a darker red sash. It was extremely baggy, as kimono usually are designed...well, at least in the Hidden Grass Village. Designs varied in different villages, of course.

The last girl , the one who had spoken up, had a look of excited recognition on her face. Her features were all childish, wide eyes and small nose and mouth, and her brown hair was in a segmented ponytail. She also was makeupless, and her clothes, though red like her apparent teammates, leaned towards pink in some areas. Said clothes were tight, but not skintight, and she wore black slippers. She almost looked like an acrobat.

"...yes?" Finally answered the boy who had been speaking before.

The girl's smile widened. "Tommy!" she shouted, running over to the ninja, apparently named Tommy.

He blinked, a shocked look on his face. His friend looked around, seeming somewhat confused. Then he answered her. "T-Tommy?" he asked, absolutely bamboozled. It seemed his name wasn't actually Tommy after all.

"Yeah, Tommy," said the girl, things now being sure in her mind. "Don't think I don't recognize you!" She waved a finger, mock-scolding. "Tsk, tsk! Trying to hide from me!" She looked him over. "Hmm...I like your new clothes!" and she smiled, eyes closed and smiling, at the boy. They boy's eye had started twitching, and his friend had started stifling giggles.

"I'm not-" began the boy. He stopped for a second, unsure of exactly how to phrase his next sentence.

Sasuke took this second to shake himself from his stunned state. "Is she, uh..." and he raised an eyebrow. "A friend of yours?"

"I've never seen her before in my life!" shouted the boy, losing his temper. "I have no idea who she is!"

The girl blinked, now the one appearing confused. Then she gasped, as comprehension dawned on her face. "Oh...you're still mad because I broke up with you, aren't you?"

"Broke up with me?" asked 'Tommy' disbelievingly as his friend moved to outright guffawing.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear about that," said a girl in the crowd named (known to us but unknown to most of the people there) Tenten. "Break-ups are always rough." Several people nodded in agreement and sympathy.

"She never broke up with me!" shouted Tommy. There was more laughter from his friend. "We never even dated!"

The confused-without-realizing-it girl shook her head, as her bored companion continued to look bored and her other companion was facepalming. With both hands. "You can't just go into denial cause you're angry, Tommy. That isn't going to solve any of your problems." She smiled. "And we can still be friends, you know!" Her eyes narrowed conspiratorially as she leaned in, hand next to mouth to block her voice. It didn't work. "And I'm pretty sure that Mai is on the lookout for a boyfriend herself..."

"TY LEE!" simultaneously growled and shouted the no-longer bored companion as the last one started massaging her temples. A green-clad ninja, whom we know to be named Rock Lee, perked up at hearing this, a slightly intrigued look on his face. His teammates had the same look on theirs.

The perky girl, now known to be named Ty Lee, turned. "Yeah?" she asked, smile on her face and bewildered boy standing behind her.

"That's extremely personal information!" said the girl, whom one could gather with very little effort was named Mai. She was attempting to seem bored again, but the look on her face betrayed her. "You can't just go around announcing that kind of stuff to crowds of people, you know."

Ty Lee frowned now, eyebrows swooping downward to indicate her anger...though really, she didn't seem very angry even with all the signs of anger on her face. "Well, how do you expect to get a boyfriend if no one knows you're looking for one?" she asked, reasonably so in her own mind. The spike-haired boy, meanwhile, slowly turned his head, looking back at his friend. His friend was laughing so hard he was crying. Everyone else seemed unsure how to react.

Mai frowned slightly, stepping over to Ty Lee. "You know what?" she asked. "I think that you're-"

She was interrupted by a throat-clear from the third girl. She turned, and Ty Lee looked curiously over her friend's shoulder. "Alright, ladies," the girl with noble clothes said. "Let's go." She sighed, then said as she walked forward to join the other two: "Honestly, sometimes I don't know why I put up with you two."

"Ooh! I know!" said Ty Lee, raising her hand like a schoolgirl. Mai, hearing her, stepped from in between the two. "It's 'cause we're your best friends!"

The last girl stopped short. " I suppose," she sighed, smiling slightly. "Come on, we're leaving." And she continued walking towards the up staircase, stepping to Ty Lee's right.

"'Kay," said the bubbly girl, following. Instead of walking, however, she cartwheeled after her friend.

"Whatever," said Mai. She was careful to step over the brown haired boy, whose laughter fit had sent him to the floor.

There was a long time after they left in which the only sound that could be heard was the brown-headed kid's laughter. Finally, Neji spoke up. "What on Earth just happened here?" he asked with a slight hint of confusion in his voice. No more than a slight hint, though; he prided himself on emotional control.

The poor sap who had been mistaken for Tommy sighed, grabbing his friend and dragging him towards the down staircase. "If all of you can just forget this ever happened, that'd be great..." he mumbled.

Naruto grinned. "Not a chance, buddy!" he called after him.

Sasuke chuckled (once) despite himself. "Come on," he said. "We should go too." And he and his two friends walked off after the other team of three.

Meanwhile, Tenten and Neji had just begun to walk in the opposite direction as the rest of the genin had scattered in various other directions. Rock Lee was staring after the two retreating groups of main characters in this little story. Tenten and Neji stopped and turned to Lee.

"Well?" asked Neji. "Are you coming or not?"

Tenten tilted her head. "I know it seems like we'll get there faster if we go up those stairs," said Tenten, "But if we go this way and climb the walls, we'll save a lot of time."

Lee shook his head. "I have something I need to do first. Do not wait on me. I will catch up."

Neji and Tenten looked at each other. Tenten shrugged, and then they walked off together. Lee stood in place for a couple more seconds, took a breath, and then took off after his 'target'.

**0-0-0-0**

"Heh hee heh," giggled Mulan. "She seriously thought you were an old boyfriend?"

The spiky-haired boy, who had transformed back into Kotetsu, his true from, was sulking over a cup of coffee. The other one had transformed back now as well, to Izumo, and was _still_ laughing. "Yeah, she did," he murmured wearily. Then, he angrily turned on his friend: "IT'S NOT THAT FUNNY!"

"It is..." gasped out Izumo. He laughed some more as he said: "It really is..."

The first sighed again. "Why does this kind of stuff always happen to me?"

Mulan blinked. Then she smirked. "This has happened before?"

"More than you know," said Kotetsu sadly.

"Why do you think I find it so funny?" asked Izumo, finally calming down.

Kotetsu was about to respond, when suddenly the door to the room burst open, causing him to spill his coffee. He was obviously shaken, for a shinobi would normally never allow himself (or herself) to do that. It was hard not to be at least slightly shaken, though: on top of being mistaken for an old boyfriend, now a very panicked looking Bekkō was standing there in the doorway. He panted heavily, blood oozing from a wound in his side. "What happened?" asked Mulan urgently, standing up.

"Intruders," Bekkō panted out. "Two of them...in the Northern forest." He grimaced. "Attacked during..." His eyes suddenly became bloodshot and scared. "They're going after the genin!"

As the others took in a sharp breath, Bekkō's eyes suddenly widened. He slumped, and would have fallen on the floor, if it weren't for Kotetsu catching him. "Oh man," whispered the black-haired Chunin worriedly.

Mulan, being a Jonin, recovered first. "Kotetsu, get him to a hospital! Izumo, tell Lord Hokage immediately!"

"Right," said both of the Chunin, dashing off. Mulan frowned slightly as she leaped out of the window, landing upon a nearby rooftop. She took a fraction of a second to turn towards the Northern Forest, then jumped to the next rooftop, mentally preparing herself for a battle.

**0-0-0-0**

"But that's a moot point," said Kakashi, standing in front of the door where the main exams would begin to take place. Events had, once again, transpired similarly to how they had before, with two main exceptions: the three strange girls watched the beginning of Lee's fight with Sasuke, and Lee had to declare his love for Sakura for the first time just before he fought Sasuke. At least he'd had time to find flowers. She took both the confession and the flowers about as well as one would expect. "You're all here, and for all the right reasons."

The three nodded, proud of themselves and thankful they had all shown up. You see, Kakashi had just finished explaining how if any of the three had failed to show up they likely wouldn't have been able to take the Chunin exams at all. This was because the rules forbid anyone but teams of three from taking the Chunin exams, you see. Not necessarily the three ninja from a single Genin team, but that was how it was usually done.

"So what are we waiting for?" asked Naruto, raising his fist into the air and smiling. "Let's do this!"

Kakashi smiled under his mask. "Alright, alright...I just wanted to say something else to the three of you."

The three Genin perked up their ears, realizing this must be important. "What is it, Kakashi-sensei?" asked Sakura after he did not speak up for a little bit.

Kakashi thought for a second or two more before answering his student. "Well...I just wanted to say that..." and he breathed outward. Obviously whatever he was trying to say was difficult for him to say. "I'm...proud of the three of you." He closed his eyes (or, quite possibly, just his right eye), and smiled again. It seemed genuine. "Very proud of you."

The three stared in awe for a few seconds. They were not used to hearing Kakashi say stuff like that. Finally, Naruto broke out into a grin. He ran his finger under his nose a few times as he said: "Thanks, Kakashi-sensei! Heh, I guess you could say we owe it all to a great teacher!" And he laughed.

Kakashi opened his eye and his smile decreased, though it did not disappear. "Alright," he said, stepping aside and opening the door behind him. "You guys had better get going, then. Good luck." _-You'll probably need it...- _ he thought, not disrespectfully but realistically. As they would soon find out.

The three nodded again. Naruto stepped forward and to the the left, and Sasuke stepped forward to the right. Their paths crossed as Sakura stepped between them. Naruto and Sasuke opened the door...

**0-0-0-0**

Mulan's teeth were gritted and her brows were furrowed as she bounded through the high treetops. Looking around at the unconscious and nearly-dead people everywhere, she could see a lot more Chunin than Bekkō were hurt in this attack, and she was determined to find out exactly _who_ was attacking. And pulverize them.

She suddenly stopped on a branch that seemed no different than the others. She slowly stood, looking around with her eyes, but not actually turning her head. _-They're near here,-_ she thought, attempting to pinpoint their location. _-I can almost feel it.-_

A kunai suddenly was flung directly at her head. Mulan slowly leaned her head down, allowing it to harmlessly pass over. Another kunai from a different direction. She dodged this one as well, twisting her body out of the way with slowness and grace. After a few more strikes like this, as a snake will sometimes move slowly and gracefully side to side before attacking as quick as lightning, Mulan pulled a kunai of her own and tossed it in a seemingly random direction with almost blinding speed.

She smiled slightly as the sound of metal ripping through flesh, an almost undetectable sound, met her ears shortly before the much clearer sound of it sticking itself into a nearby tree did so as well. Obviously a glancing blow, but a blow nonetheless, and one that got her point across. "I know where you are," said Mulan, a bit redundantly. "Come on out of there."

There was silence for a few seconds. Then, with almost as much suddenness as the Jonin had struck with herself, two figures appeared on the branch in front of her. She gasped as she recognized them. "Impressive," said one of them wearing a long purple cloak with two gold chains running across the chest. His hair was blue and spiked in different directions, and his face was narrow and sunken in. He wore a red and black mask, frowning, that covered half of his face and all of his chin. "I didn't think you'd be able to spot us quite that easily."

"Yes," said the other, whose face was chubby and shoulder was cut. He had an evil look in his eye, and his other eye was covered by a white, smiling mask that covered the rest of that half of his face as well. He had no hair. "She did an excellent job to be able to outsmart your camouflaging Jutsu."

Mulan's eyes narrowed. "Lumis and Umbra," she said, moving subtly into battle position. "Also known as 'The Mask of Light' and 'The Mask of Darkness'. High B-rank criminals and members of a criminal organization, now defunct, known as the Rare Hunters."

Lumis chuckled. "Well, what do you know? She recognizes us!"

"I think she needs to update our profile, though," smiled the one with the frowning mask. "After all, two B-rank ninja wouldn't have been able to cause all this damage, would they?"

Mulan considered his words. He was correct.; the carnage surrounding her was the work of, at the very least, a B-rank criminal working together with an A-rank criminal. And even then, they'd have to have caught almost every single member of the guard detail by surprise. And if they'd done that, the guards would be at their posts, not out here in the woods. What was going on here?

She decided to think about it later and focus on defending herself and the Hidden Leaf Village now. She smiled, though she didn't feel like it. Common intimidation technique. "Good thing you guys showed up," she lied. "I was starting to get bored. This should be fun."

The Masks of Dark and Light laughed at this. "You really think you can take us?" said Umbra.

"No way!" said Lumis.

"I'm a lot tougher than a Chunin is," said Mulan, no longer lying. "As you're about to find out!" and she leapt forward off the branch she was standing on with her last two words. The troublemakers did the same, drawing some more kunai as they flung themselves through the air.

The fight began.

* * *

"But if we go this way and climb the walls, we'll save a lot of time." Only a ninja could say that sentence all casual-like, eh? Anywho, copyright info ahoy!

**DISCLAIMER3: **I do not own Tweety Bird, whom is a Looney Tuness Character. Looney Tunes belongs to Warner Bros. studios, and to all its subsidiaries.

**DISCLAIMER4: **I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender, which Ty Lee, Mai, and Azula (yes, the third girl _is_ Azula) are originally characters from. The series was primarily made by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, and was shown on Nickelodeon, at least in the U.S. I'm unsure about other countries. At any rate, Avatar belongs to them, not me.

**DISCLAIMER 5:** Lumis and Umbra are not my property. They first appeared in the original Yu-gi-oh! anime, which was created indirectly by Kazuki Takahashi, who wrote the original manga. In the U.S., it is copyright 4kids Entertainment, whether anime fans like it or not. I'm personally fine with it, but that's just overly-tolerant me.

I wonder...did I fool anybody into thinking that the masked man and his partner were the ones attacking? If I did, cool, if not, that's cool too. It's not like it really matters whom I fool, right? Oh, and speaking of our Organization friends: this is the last chapter they'll be showing up in for a while. I don't know about you, but I'm getting tired of them being described as 'watching and waiting'. I'd much rather them be doing something actiony with them! Yes, I know actiony is not a real word. See you next time, and enjoy life until then! God bless, and all that. Love you! Make good choices! Other generic embarrassing farewells!

...bye!

**REALLY FREAKING HEAVY EDIT:** ...my goodness, in the first update of this chapter I called DrTempo 'DrFoofy'...what the persimmons and wine was I thinking? I even checked the review page to make sure I got it right! HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?

...at any rate, sorry to DrFoo-TEMPO. DRTEMPO. GET IT THROUGH MY HEAD.


	5. The Waiting Game

Hey, a quick question...WHEN I TYPE LIKE THIS, DOES THE VOICE IN YOUR HEAD YELL?

Hello, hello, hello, it's chapter 5! Hip hip hooray and all that jazz...just in case he hasn't seen my update yet, one DrTempo may want to revisit last chapter and scroll to the bottom of the page. The rest of you can keep reading.

**DISCLAIMER: **Naruto belongs, not to me, but to Masashi Kishimoto and to viewers like y-I mean, to Tokyo TV. Yeah.

...yeah. Other than that, I don't really have much to say, so I'll tell you what song you can listen to if you want and y'all can get to readin'.

_Optional song to listen to while reading this chapter: 'Darkness and Light' by X-Ray Dog. But only during the battle scenes ,or else the talking scenes are gonna get awkward quickly. Also, this song does not belong to me.

* * *

_

"Woah," said Naruto, looking around the room they had just entered. "There sure are a lot of people here..."

He was right. The room was absolutely full of Genin hopefuls, most of whom appeared at least a couple of years older than Naruto and his friends did.

Sakura looked around the room as well, eyes wide. Several people looked back, eyes narrowed. Sakura gulped. "Oh boy," she grimaced. "We're so dead meat, aren't we?"

Sasuke was about to respond, when he was interrupted by Ino, who (there was no other word for it) glomped him. "Oh, Sasuke!" she shouted. "It's so good to see you again! You have no idea how much I've missed you!"

Sasuke's eye twitched. Sakura, meanwhile, became angry. Naruto did his best to step out from in between them as everyone stared. "INO-PIG!" shouted Sakura. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING WITH MY SASUKE?"

Ino ignored her rival. "My, Sasuke, you must have had such a difficult time, putting up with that billboard-brow over there."

Sasuke considered this. "...that's accurate enough," he conceded. Sakura almost immediately face-faulted.

Ino, meanwhile, grinned at her victory. _-Ha! Take that, little miss perfect!-_ she gloated in her head.\

"But then again," continued Sasuke, "Sakura's never tried to molest me before, so I'd say she's the lesser of two evils." Now it was Ino's turn to face-fault. Thankfully for Sasuke, she let go as she did so.

As Naruto tried to hold in his giggles, someone came walking up behind them. "Um, guys?" she asked. Everyone turned to her. "I hate to interrupt your little boy-snaring contest, but you're starting to attract attention..."

Everyone turned back to the room of people. Indeed, they were all attracting attention, and not necessarily good attention either. In fact, it seemed like the entire room was staring at them, one eye narrowed and one eyebrow raised. Most of their (slightly confused) 'wrath' was focused on Ino, who was now standing up and blushing.

Sakura had stood up and was blushing, too, but not nearly as much as Ino was. She turned to the girl who had brought them to their senses. "Eh, heh, heh...thanks, Kim."

The girl smiled as her teammates came up behind her. "No big!" she said. "Just trying to help out some fellow kunoichi."

Naruto looked at the girl carefully, trying to place her in his mind. She had braces and a brunette ponytail that was held in place by a ribbon attached to the Leaf Village insignia all members of the Konoha ninja wore. She wore cargo pants with plenty of pockets, and a light purple shirt with only one sleeve. _-Kim Possible,-_ thought Naruto, remembering the girl. _-Weird name, but a cool girl. Always tries to do the right thing...she is a little bit bossy sometimes, though.-_

"Playing the diplomat again, huh Kim?" asked the other brunette of the group, as loudly as possible. "Gee, I wonder if you had any ulterior motives...like maybe you wanted Sasuke for yourself?"

"Shut it," said Kim through a gritted-teeth smile.

_-She's also kind of manipulative...-_ sweatdropped Naruto. He turned his attention to the boy who had spoken. His brown hair was spiked haphazardly, though if memory served, he had the same hair every day, so maybe it was purposeful. He wore his headband like Kakashi's, titled, though it didn't cover his eye. His red-mesh shirt was covered by a blue a jacket and tucked into brown pants. His shoes were large, and yellow. In short, he was even more brightly colored than Naruto was. _-Sora Kuriketto,-_ thought Naruto. _-Not much of a personality on this guy...likes to joke around, talks with his friends a lot, gets into trouble sometimes...he's okay, I guess.-_

"Sora, could you keep it down?" the third kid with blue hair asked. "I really don't like being stared at like this..." he frowned slightly. "It feels like they're judging me."

Naruto evaluated the third in his head as well. Surprisingly enough, he actually wore a headband and goggles as well, both on top of his head, the goggles lower. Like Sora, he wore a blue jacket and a red shirt, though his colors were much more subdued. His pants were the color of dust, and he wore red fingerless gloves. _-I think this guy's name is...Simon.-_ Naruto thought to himself. _-Don't know much about him, either. Pretty quiet, usually, but when he does talk...maybe it's just me, but his voice sounds kind of like Sasuke's.-_

"They are judging you," came another voice from another side. Everyone looked at the voice's owner. Shikamaru. "They're judging _us_. And you know how they're judging?"

"H-how?" asked Naruto. Sasuke sighed, knowing approximately what was coming.

Shikamaru scratched his neck. "They're judging that we're idiots. All of us." He closed his eyes. ""Think. It's the job of a ninja to be stealthy, right? What kind of ninja would purposefully try and attract attention to himself?"

_-Shikamaru Nara,- _thought Naruto. _-Man, this guy is laaaazy! I'm surprised he ever gets out of bed! He's okay, too, but not really the type I like to hang out with. Kind of annoying,-_

"Heh. I personally couldn't care less!" said Kiba, arriving as well with his own group. "Let 'em think what they want to. We're still gonna blow 'em outta the water, right Akamaru?"

"Arf!" barked the puppy in his parka.

As the others kept talking and arguing amongst themselves, (except for Sasuke, who simply sighed and brooded) Naruto looked around at the various people there. _-Ch__ōji Akimichi. He's cool, doesn't really make fights with anyone. Mainly he just eats. Ino...I take back what I said before: this girl is way more annoying than Shikamaru could be if he tried! And it's not even this stupid crush she has on Sasuke like Sakura, either...it's something else.- _

"'One who is putting on his armor should not brag like one who is taking it off,'" quoted Shino. Kiba looked mad in response.

_-Mmm...Akamaru's looking plumper...juicier...-_ thought Chōji, taking a dangerous step towards Akamaru.

Hinata noticed. "Umm...Kiba?" she tried to point out.

Now Naruto looked to Team Eight arriving group. _-Shino's as creepy as Shikamaru is lazy! What was __his clan name...Aburame? I dunno, but I do know that this guy doesn't talk much. Neither does Hinata...Hinata Hyuuga. She's really quiet, even though she speaks often. I can never hear her! I dunno why she stutters and acts so nervous all the time, either...she's weird.-_

"So, Sasuke," flirted Ino. "Sorry about earlier. But you know, I was just thinking, since we're obviously the most mature two people here..." Sasuke rolled his eyes, unnoticed to the rambling girl.

Naruto turned his eyes to Kiba, frowning as he did so. _-Then there's Kiba...uh...Janakuba? No, that's not it...eh, it's not like I really care. This guy talks more than enough to make up for his teammates! He's extra-annoying!-_

"Get away from him, Ino-pig!" shouted Sakura, forgetting once again that they were surrounded by strangers.

"And what if I don't, billboard-brow?" responded Ino.

"Then I'll wring that scrawny little neck of yours right off your shoulders!" threatened Sakura as Kim facepalmed, her teammate Sora laughed, and Simon continued to look nervous, sending glances to the angry-looking mob just to the group's side.

"I'd like to see you try!" rebutted Ino. Shikamaru lifted his head to the sky and sighed, while Chōji kept snacking on his chips, having been repelled sufficiently by Kiba from his appetizing ambitions.

"Hey, Sakura, forget about Sasuke," said Naruto to his crush, forgetting about analyzing the other people there. "You know, I'm way better than he is! You and me could-"

"Don't even start, Naruto," warned Sakura, turning to him momentarily before continuing her glaring contest with Ino. Kiba's mouth was in smirking position, and Hinata looked worried. Shino was like he usually was.

"Will both of you just shut up and go away?" Sasuke finally asked.

"Alright, you heard him," said Shino. "Let's break it up and go back to our-"

"No way I'm leaving Sasuke!" shouted Ino, grabbing one of his arms.

"Neither am I!" shouted Sakura right back, grabbing his other arm just as tightly. Sasuke actually looked worried now.

"Woohoo, catfight!" shouted the dog-nin enthusiastically. Kim suddenly was next to him, flicking him in the forehead. "Ow!" he shouted as Sakura and Ino continued fighting and several people tried to get them to quit. "What was that for?"

And then things just went downhill.

"Sasuke's mine!"

"No, he's mine!"

"He's so mine, not your-"

"Let me go already!"

"Sakura, I thought we were-"

"Can't a guy enjoy-"

"What a drag."

"I swear if you don't let go!"

"You're making a mockery of yourself."

"Do you want some-"

SCHWING.

Everyone started away from the kunai that had landed very nearby. Steam was literally coming off of it, though most people in the group were too occupied with being startled by the kunai itself to notice. They all lifted their eyes, following the weapon's trajectory. There, on the back wall, the new recipients of the confused stares of the crowd (though now also frightened, as opposed to the mocking they had been doing before), were Ty Lee, Mai, and the unknown-named third girl, who was holding her hand out in front of her in kunai-throwing position. "Shut up," she said. "All of you, just be quiet." And with these words, she went back to leaning against the wall.

"...thank you," said Sasuke, doing the same thing. Everyone else made sure to stay absolutely silent.

**0-0-0-0**

"Really, you guys," said Mulan, unscathed, landing on another tree branch and moving her two sharp-edged fans around her in a circular motion before settling. "Can you honestly say to yourselves and to me that you were responsible for all this?"

"Of course!" said Lumis, with various cuts along his face and chest.

"Who else would be?" asked Umbra, looking much worse than he had at the start of the battle.

"Oh, I don't know," fake-mused Mulan. "Orochimaru, perhaps?"

Lumis and Umbra were silent, and their faces were blank. They looked at each other. "Who's Orochimaru?" Umbra finally asked.

"Hmm..." murmured Mulan. "Well, once I bring in you two for questioning, we'll see if you're playing dumb or whether it's just natural." And with this taunt, she leapt forward once more. Lumis and Umbra looked at each other and nodded. _-Well, that can't be good,- _thought Mulan as the two leapt away from her in opposite directions. Then, with one of them on each side of Mulan, they went through identical hand signs.

Well, identical until the final one. Umbra finished his bout with the Rat sign. "Dark Arrow Jutsu!" he cried, spreading his arms. Four arrows made of black light appeared from behind him, rushing forward and disappearing behind Lumis, leaving a trail of the same black light permanently behind them.

Lumis finished with the Ram sign. "Light Arrow Jutsu!" he cried, lifting up his hands as well. Four arrows, made of white light, shot from behind him, reconnecting behind Umbra and leaving a trail of their own that occupied a good portion of the gap between the dark arrows.

_-I was right,- _thought Mulan, looking around for any weaknesses in the impromptu cage the two ninja had made around her. _-And if I remember the bingo book correctly, then their next move will be...-_

Again, the Masks of Light and Dark made several hand signs, this time exactly the same all the way through. They shot their arms forward. "Yin-Yang Bomb!" they shouted together. At the same time as these words, Lumis sent a wave of Light at Mulan. Umbra shot a beam of Darkness.

The attacks collided at the same place Mulan was standing, creating an explosion that filled the 'cage' she was in.

The arrows slowly faded, smoke not clearing yet, as Lumis and Umbra dropped their arms. "I think we got her," grinned Lumis.

Umbra chuckled. "Definitely."

Mulan, of course unscathed, leapt out of the center of the smoke, rising above the trees, fans outstretched.

"What the..." gasped Umbra.

"How did you survive?" shouted Lumis up at the girl.

Mulan did not respond, instead putting her fans away and flashing through several hand signs as she flipped over halfway, head now pointing at the ground. "Ninja Art," she began. The final hand sign snapped into place as her eyes snapped open. "Human Firework Jutsu!"

With these words, she sped straight down, suddenly glowing with energy. "Hold on!" screeched Lumis, now fearful.

"You'll set the whole forest ablaze!" panicked Umbra, searching for any excuse not to be hit by Mulan's jutsu.

Mulan came within an inch of landing on the branch she had just leapt off of. Stopping just short, she simultaneously threw her arms and legs outward, sending bursts of energy and one very large shockwave in various directions. "AAAAAAAH!" screamed the two Masks at the exact same time, being blown off the branch they were standing on. Lumis slammed into the tree behind him. Umbra, slightly more lucky, lost some of his speed by traveling and therefore didn't hit the opposite tree, a dozen feet away or so, quite as hard.

The living firework sent off a last few sparks, smoke billowing off of her and kimono billowing around her legs. She righted herself in midair, then landed gently on the branch that had rapidly turned into a battlefield. "'Burn the whole forest down?'" she parroted, looking at Umbra through the untouched foliage. "Give me some credit. I know how to aim my own jutsu, you know." She suddenly turned to Lumis, sensing attack. Too late, though, as the mask the Mask of Light was wearing had flown off his face. It glided forward at a quick pace, too quick to react to. Mulan grunted as it hit her, throwing her off balance and attaching itself to her face. An instant later, Umbra's mask hit as well, sticking to the other side of her face as she stumbled. Now the two pieces of the mask glowed, and Mulan twitched, then slowly stood up straight, stiffening afterward. _-What...what's happening? My body...-_

Umbra chuckled, clinging to the tree with his chakra. "What's the matter?" he asked mockingly. "Not too fond of our Mask of Restrict?"

Lumis laughed, standing up from his prone position. "There's a special jutsu written on the inside of that mask. Cut in half it's harmless, but when both halves are together again..."

Umbra smiled an unnerving smile. "Whoever wears the Mask of Restrict must bear its evil curse, and be still as a statue for all eternity."

"Like you are now, Miss Sparkler!" continued Lumis. "And very soon, you'll die of suffocation, for in the state you're in you can't even breathe!"

_-He's right,-_ thought Mulan, willing her body to move but finding herself unable to even twitch. _-I can't! Some kind of ninjutsu...combined with genjutsu...is this how they got all the Chunin?- _Her eyes would have narrowed, but they could not move. _-No...the Chunin had various cuts and bruises all over their bodies...and many, if not all, were still alive. Someone else _must _have done the job for these guys...- _Her thinking was getting fuzzy. She could hear Lumis and Umbra laughing as she slowly started to lose consciousness. _-Got to do something...focus, Mulan...think of something...anything!-_

**0-0-0-0**

The room was silent now. Not a soul spoke up at all, not even a whisper to their teammates, as most were afraid of the (rather scary) third girl's retaliating. Those who weren't afraid simply were not the speaking type anyway, preferring this silence to what was happening before very much.

_-Gah...- _thought Naruto. _-I'm gonna go crazy if this lasts much longer...- _A large puff of smoke burst into the room, breaking the silence. A very large man stood in the same physical space as the smoke, appearing to the room's occupants as it gradually disappeared. _-Finally!- _Naruto continued thinking. _-Now I can show that I'm ready to become a Chunin!-_

The large man with various scars across his face spoke up. "Alright, listen up!" he said. "We have a little bit of a situation on our hands." Everyone's ears perked at this, and the man noticed. "Don't worry, everything's under control. But I'm afraid the first part of the exams are going to have to be delayed by an hour." Several people started groaning and whispering at this. "Quiet!" the man shouted over the noise. Due to his commanding voice (and, well, humongous size), everyone obeyed readily. "Good. See you all again soon." He turned around, then chuckled. "Try not to chicken out." And with these words, he vanished again, another puff of smoke obscuring his exit.

Naruto sighed. _-Fantastic...now I've got to deal with this for another hour...-_

**0-0-0-0**

"How much longer do you think she'll last?" asked Umbra, leaning in a bit closer to the girl he and Lumis had captive.

"Not too much longer now," said Lumis. "Hmm. At any rate, we'd better get going." He turned away. "After all, we have a lot to do in the Leaf Village."

"Oh, do you now?" said a voice from a little bit further in the trees. Lumis and Umbra started, looked at each other, then leapt forward.

"Oh, shoot!" said Umbra as Lumis gasped, both right after they landed. Before them, twenty or thirty Chunin-or-higher level ninja stood upon various branches. Among those ninja, and nearest to the villainous duo, was Kakashi Hatake, the one who had spoken up.

He snapped his book shut, looking at the two. "My, that is interesting. Why don't you tell us all about exactly what it is you're planning to do once you get into our Hidden Village?"

"Lumis!" whispered Umbra to his partner. "That's the famous Copy Ninja, Kakashi Hatake! What do we do?"

"Stay back!" shouted Lumis, ignoring the maskless Mask of Dark. "Or your comrade dies!"

"Really?" asked Kakashi, stepping towards them. They stepped back, notes of surprise and fear escaping from their mouths.. "Do tell. How exactly will she die, again?"

"Because we're the only ones who can undo the jutsu that's keeping her from breathing!" shouted Lumis, more loudly than necessary. And technically not answering Kakashi's question. He was panicked.

"That's right!" added in Umbra, voice squeaking under pressure. "So, just go away, and we'll set your friend free!"

"Oh, I dunno," said Kakashi, turning in Mulan's direction and raising his hand over his eyebrows to shield his eye (one already was shielded, of course) from the rising sun. "Looks to me like Iruka's done a pretty good job undoing your jutsu to me."

"WHAT?" screamed Lumis and Umbra simultaneously as they turned as well. Iruka was indeed there, kneeled down and checking to make sure the gasping Mulan was alright.

"Now then," said Kakashi, causing the Masks to freeze in terror. "Are you going to come quietly, or..."

"WE SURRENDER!" the two yelled, turning around and raising their hands into the air. They were visibly trembling even as they did so.

"There, now, was that so hard?" asked Kakashi, smiling as the two were apprehended by several ninja. "Now to take you two to a nice interrogation room, so we can find out what makes this little operation of yours tick."

_-There's no way,-_ thought Mulan, taking a few lasts gulps of fresh air. _-There's no way these guys were the ones to take out all those Chunin...but then, who?-_

"LOOK OUT!" shouted Iruka, raising his kunai into the air, prepared to throw it or defend with it. As everyone's eyes turned towards the direction he pointed in, the tied-up Lumis and Umbra chuckled evily.

"We said _we'd_ surrender..." began Lumis as several trees nearby shook from the giant burst of wind that was getting stronger and stronger. A great roar of greater fury was heard in the distance as several more ninja prepared their weapons of choice as well.

"...but we never said anything about the Four-Faced Beast!" finished Umbra as the two trees nearest Iruka and Mulan (who was now standing again) toppled, revealing a terrifying creature the size of an average Village's defensive walls.

"...well, that complicates things," understated Kakashi as the monstrous being loomed over what it had determined to be its new prey.

**0-0-0-0**

"So...what's the deal with those three anyway?"

Naruto looked at Sasuke quizzically. "What?"

Sasuke looked back at him. "Everyone seemed to be avoiding them like the plague even before their leader threw that kunai. Why?"

Naruto blinked. He then stared at the three girls, who each had a different expression on their face. One happy, one bored, and one angry. Guess which one had which. "I dunno," he said. "All I know is that that girl's really scary when she wants to be..."

"If you say so," said Sasuke. He stopped leaning against the wall and began walking.

"Where are you going?" Naruto asked.

"I'm going to talk to them," Sasuke responded without turning around. "What's it look like I'm doing?"

"Sasuke," spoke up Sakura, taking a step forward. That was all she took, fear of retaliation holding her back from more. She gazed after the object of her affections, placing a hand over her heart as he entered the crowd, whose eyes also followed him. "Be careful...Sasuke."

**0-0-0-0**

Kakashi leapt backwards, landing on a different branch. He would have stayed on the one he was on, but it had been destroyed when the creature wearing four masks shot a blast of lightning at Kakashi from its third pair of eyes. "Darn it," Kakashi said to himself. "Aren't there any kinds of attacks that can actually hurt this thing?" He wondered this because several ninja had thrown several good justus (along with several kunai) at the floating head with a mask facing each cardinal direction, and everything had seemed to just bounce off harmlessly.

"It's no use!" shouted Lumis from Umbra's back, which he was tied to. Umbra was trying to get away, but was hindered by the weight of his miniature partner.

"Shut up! Don't draw attention to yourself!" Umbra seethed.

Lumis ignored him. "No attack you could possibly try could ever hurt Melchid the Four-Faced Beast! Each mask it wears is three times harder than reinforced iron!"

"Exactly three times?" asked Kakashi mockingly. "How does one go about testing something like that?" He closed his eyes, thinking heavily about the problem before him as other shinobi unwittingly served as a distraction to allow him time to do said thinking. _-Their masks are harder than iron...so why not attack where the masks aren't? So, that leaves the top or the bottom of the Beast...the top's out of the question. The thing's larger than most buildings, and floating to boot. So that leaves the bottom...where the gravity-defying energy seems to be coming from.- _He slowly opened his eyes. _-But we've tried attacking there..._I've _tried attacking there. It's weaker, yes, but definitely not weak.-_

"Something the matter?" asked Mulan, settling on the branch next to Kakashi. In the background, Melchid was spitting fire and spinning, creating a defensive/offensive wall.

"The only place I can see us having any success attacking is the top," said Kakashi, looking at the Beast floating in the sky. "But there's no way any ninja could ever get up there...unless they could fly, of course."

"Hmm," said Mulan, considering. "Well, I can't fly, but what if we..." and she smirked. "Bounced?"

Kakashi looked at her, blinking. "Bounced?" he repeated, slightly confused.

Mulan raised up one of her fans to her fingers, scratching them with the razor edge so that they bled. "That mask had a side effect of draining the chakra out of me," she said as she performed the necessary handsigns (she was actually a bit slower than the average shinobi in doing them, but this never seemed like as big a weakness as one might think it was). "But I've got just enough left..." she slammed her palm into the branch's bark, causing it to shake slightly. "Summoning jutsu!"

There was a small puff of smoke as Mulan stood back up, breathing out slightly. Melchid took notice of this, and began to make its way over to the resting shinobi as Kakashi squinted at the creature in front of him. That creature was a small tiger, standing on its hind legs, with a comical face. It wore a Leaf protector around its neck loosely, like a bandana, and carried a pouch that was slung over its left shoulder. "Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo!" said the tiger, celebrating its being summoned with a hop in the air. "Hiya, world! It sure is great to see you again! I was startin' to miss ya!"

Mulan smiled. "Alright, I've got someone I'd like you to meet, but save the pouncing until later, alright?"

"You got it, Mulan-a-rooney!" said the tiger as Mulan indicated Kakashi, who hadn't exactly been expecting this when Mulan started to summon something. Melchid was still slowly making its way over to the ninja. "Hey there!" continued the animal, grabbing Kakahi's hand in its paw and shaking vigorously. "Name's Tigger! Tee, I, Double-Guh, Err! That spells Tigger!"

"Uh...yes, I'm sure it does," said Kakashi, having seen stranger things before, but not much stranger. "I'm Kakashi. Kakashi Hatake."

"Well, then, Cackle-y guy!" said Tigger enthusiastically as Melchid was slowed down by a giant seashell-shaped mace. "Whaddya need old Tigger to do, huh?"

_-Cackle-y guy?- _thought Kakashi, blinking.

Mulan leaned over to the small animal's eye level. "You see that big monster over there?" she asked, pointing.

Tigger turned to meet it just as it turned its most fearsome face in their direction and shot a gust of wind from its second set of nostrils. It seemed angry. Tigger gulped as the wind passed harmlessly over them. "Erm, Mulan," said the tiger, leaning over and whispering in her ear, "I don't know if you got the memo, but I'm not exactly the type for fighterins, and stuff."

Mulan laughed gently. "That's alright. We don't want you to do any fighting. He'll be doing that part," and here she stood, indicating Kakashi. "But there is something very important we need you to do."

Tigger looked up at her, scratching his chin lightly as he tried to act serious and responsible. "Watcha need?" he asked again, eager once more now that he knew he wouldn't have to fight any monsters

"Well, you see," explained Mulan, "That thing's only weak point is on top of it, so we need to attack there. But none of us can reach it, you see, and-"

"I get it! You want me to bounce this guy on up there! Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!" He grinned. "No worries, Mulan-a-rooney! Bouncin's what Tiggers do best!"

"I'm glad to hear it," said Mulan. Tigger grinned again and turned around, crouching slightly as Melchid came ever closer. "He wants you to get on," Mulan said to Kakashi.

"What...oh. Of course," said Kakashi, still a little confused. He slowly climbed onto Tigger's back. Despite the fact the creature was smaller than him, it didn't seem to strain under the weight. "Okay. Now whaaaaAAAAAAAAAaa!"

In the middle of his sentence, Tigger suddenly leapt in the air and came down on his tail, which acted like a spring and shot both him and Kakashi into the air. "And awaaaay we go!" shouted Tigger, rising hundreds of feet per second.

_-Yep. Today is one of those days, alright,- _thought Kakakshi as he held on for dear life.

**0-0-0-0**

"So," said Sasuke, reaching the three girls under staring of the general population of the room. "Ty Lee and Mai, right?" He received no answer. "But you I don't know. What's your name?"

"Are you hitting on me?" asked the girl, angrily and without turning to him, or even seeming to react at all besides the anger in her voice. Then again, her voice always sounded angry, so maybe she was actually really calm.

Sasuke shook his head. "No," he said truthfully. "I'm simply interested in your abilities." He thought back to the kunai. No one else had seemed to notice the steam coming off of it, but he did. "Something involving heat, I would guess from what little I've seen."

The girl reacted now, turning to look at him with a 'no duh' look on her face. "You really believe I'm going to tell you what my abilities are? If we should happen to battle each other at any point during these exams, you would have the upper hand."

Sasuke thought about this. "That makes sense," he conceded. "Still, I am curious about-"

"Hate to interrupt," interrupted Mai. "But there's something weird going on over there."

The other three turned to look, noting that the crowd had stopped watching them for the time being. Across the room, a strange person with a gray coat much too large for him and his head wrapped in bandages with standing before some shouting kid with no shirt and a bandana with an oddly designed...er, design on it. It was hard to hear what the kid was saying, not because he was too soft but ironically because he was too loud. Perhaps the proper phrase wasn't 'hard to hear' as much as it was 'hard to understand' his high-pitched screeching.

With a suddenness that surprised even most of the ninja in the room, the bandaged kid pulled up the sleeve of his coat and swung his arm.

**0-0-0-0**

"Here's your stop, Cackle-y guy!" said Tigger as they cleared the Four-Face Beast's fourth face, barely passing over the stream of pure cold it shot from its mouth.

"Thanks! Send me the bill!" said Kakashi, jumping off of Tigger's back and landing on top of Melchid's. He looked up into the air.

"TTFN! Ta-Ta For Now!" shouted Tigger, reaching the zenith of his jump and evaporating in a puff of smoke.

_-Weird,-_ thought Kakashi, _-But weird isn't necessarily bad.-_ "Woah, there, boy!" he said aloud as Melchid 'bucked', trying to get the insect standing atop of it off of him. "Easy. This will only hurt a second!" And on the last word, he pulled out a kunai with a paper bomb attached to it. He stuck it into the floating monstrosity, then leapt back off. Melchid's eyes began to glow with electricity...

Before the Beast could attack, the paper bomb blew, sending several chunks of Melchid flying away from their owner. The beast roared in agony, spiraling off of its flight path, towards an unoccupied area of the forest.

Well, almost unoccupied. "Have you got it untied yet?" asked Lumis, panicked.

"Almost," said Umbra. "Just a little...more?" His statement turned into a question as an enormous shadow washed over the two. This was one darkness the Mask of Dark would have much preferred not existed.

"Oh, shoot..." said Lumis and Umbra together, just before Melchid the Four Face Beast impacted, scattering trees from their spots and leaving an enormous crater in the ground before it disappeared in a larger version of the puff of smoke evident in all Summon Beasts' entering and leaving.

Kakashi had landed somewhat roughly, but much less so than one would expect. Mulan, sitting next to him, was smiling as the other ninja who were were fighting cheered over their victory. "Well, I do believe that is that," said Mulan.

"I should hope so," said Kakashi, standing up a bit shakily. "I think I may have twisted my ankle."

"Another casualty in a long list," said Mulan pitilessly as she leapt in the direction Lumis and Umbra were dead or unconscious in.

Kakashi sighed. "Must you always treat me like that?" he asked as he leapt off, too, to the best of his ability.

**0-0-0-0**

Just a few minutes later, at Konoha's General Hospital. Ninja moved fast, and there were several of them, so all the injured had already been transferred.

"Uuuugh..." groaned Lumis and Umbra, heavily beaten, as they were wheeled into the secure area of the Leaf Village hospital. Mulan watched them, uncertainty written all over her face.

"Something troubles you, Mulan Fa?" asked the Third Hokage, stepping into the picture seemingly from nowhere.

Mulan, used to this kind of entry, did not jump in surprise. "A lot of people were hurt today," she said, "And that bothers me enough. But..." she considered for a few seconds.

"Yes? What is it?" asked the Third, encouraging her to speak her mind.

"I'm not saying Lumis and Umbra don't have the ability to defeat all of those people. Not necessarily, anyway. I mean, after all," and she turned to the Village's leader, who puffed on his pipe, as per usual, while he contemplated her words. "If my fan-style taijutsu wasn't specifically designed to ward off attacks by both chakratic and physical means, they would have finished me off in that battle. And again they would have with their Mask of Restrict Jutsu, if I hadn't been rescued."

"And yet when more opponents showed up," the Hokage smiled, "They instantly surrendered."

Mulan giggled. "That is true...but mainly..." And she thought for a second. "The wounds aren't consistent with the type of attacks Lumis, Umbra, or their summoned creature used. The attacks inflicted on our Chunin were more..." she looked at Sarutobi. "They were more 'direct attack', if you understand my meaning, Lord Hokage."

"I understand your concern, and in fact I agree with you," said the Hokage. "That is why I have ordered an investigation into this matter." He turned and took a step or two away. He then stopped, and looked back at Mulan with a reassuring smile on his face. "Don't worry too much," he said. "None of the wounds are fatal. Everyone's going to be alright."

Mulan smiled a little bit. "I'm glad to hear it." Inside, though, she still felt worry, a clenching in the pit of her stomach. _-So strange,- _she thought. _-Why do I feel that even with the investigation there's something we're still missing?-_

**0-0-0-0**

The kid with the bandana dodged the other's strike with ease, smirking as he did so.

"That was pretty fast," said Mai. No one who could hear her was sure whether she was talking about the initial attack or the motion that dodged it. Either way, she was right.

The kid in blue jeans and without a shirt smirked some more. This time, he was loud and understandable. "Is that all you-" he suddenly interrupted himself with a shocked look on own face. Aforementioned face twitched, once, then collapsed into a grimace of terror. "AAAAAAARGH!" he screamed as he dropped to his knees, grasping at his ears. He curled up on the floor, in fetal position, continuing to scream as his two buddies rushed over to help him.

"Woah," said Kiba, back with the other ten. "Did you see that?"

"Yeah, I did," said Ino. "That attack must have been pretty powerful..."

"Wait, wait wait, hold on!" burst out Naruto. "I-I saw it! I saw the other guy dodge his attack! So why is he..."

"But think about it," said Chōji, "If the attack didn't hit, he wouldn't be hurt, right?"

"Yeah, but..." Naruto began. He stopped, thinking about his chubby semi-friend's words.

"Naruto is right," said Shino.

Everyone looked at him, note of surprise escaping his mouth as they did so. "R-really?" asked Sakura. "Are you sure?"

"...not 100 percent, no," admitted Shino. "But I believe so."

"So...what was that attack, then?" asked Sora, looking back over to where the hurt person in question was slowly getting back up with the help of his two teammates. The one who had made the painful movement was now walking away calmly, a slightly scared crowd parting to make way for him.

Simon gulped. "Something very dangerous," he murmured. Everyone nodded their agreement.

Rock Lee's team was watching the events unfold as well. "There was more to that attack than met the eye," Lee declared to his teammates, and simultaneously to everyone in a fifteen-foot radius.

"Indeed," responded Neji, used to his teammate's boisterous nature. "But exactly what, I could not tell. Perhaps some kind of ninja-tool assisted strike?"

"Yeah," whispered Tenten. "Like maybe that metal thing on his arm." Her teammates took their eyes off of the scene before them to look at her. She looked right back. "You didn't notice it?" The silence she received in response was an accurate confirmation that no, they had not. She looked back towards the boy again.

The one with the bandages was standing directly in front of her. She yelped, as his one visible eye slowly narrowed. "I'm sorry. Could you please allow me to pass along here? I need to get back to my team."

"Right. Of course," said Tenten, stepping aside. She nervously watched as the mummy-like man walked past her, knees bent heavily and feet spread as he did so. _-Okay, then...that was a little creepy..-_

"Well, that was odd," said Temari from another part of the room. She turned to her brothers. "Did you notice that the attack didn't actually hit?"

"Yeah, I did," said Kankuro. "Maybe he threw something on the other guy while he was swinging?"

"Possibly," said Temari. "At any rate, we'll need to be careful." She looked around, eyes betraying a suspicion she didn't show in her voice.

"Definitely," agreed Kankuro. "Who knows what kind of tricks these other ninja might have?" He suddenly grinned. "Then again, we've got a few tricks of our own, don't we?"

Gaara was unfazedly silent.

"Well, that was interesting," Sasuke said, breaking the silence between him and the Team from the Grass Village. "Any ideas on what exactly that attack was?"

"Not a one!" said Ty Lee, smiling hugely and eyes closed. Mai simply shrugged.

"...a few. Not that I'll share them with you," said the third girl.

"Not the talkative type, huh?" asked Sasuke.

The girl from apparently noble descent looked at him. "You don't seem like you normally are, either." Her eyes narrowed as her voice took on a sharp edge. "You sure you're not looking for a date?"

"Positive. And even if I was, it certainly wouldn't be with some Ice Queen like you," Sasuke said, fed up with her lack of answers to his questions. He turned and began walking back to his group.

"...I am many things, but an Ice Queen?" and she chuckled. "Definitely not," she finished, smiling slightly as she turned back away from Sasuke. A few moments passed. "My name is Azula Aoiro," she yelled to the Uchiha, who stopped in his tracks. "You'd do well to remember it."

A short silence. "Sasuke Uchiha. Likewise," Sasuke responded as he began walking away again.

Azula's friends stared after him a few minutes after he was gone. Ty Lee's eyes became half-lidded as she leaned in towards her Team's leader. "Sexual tensioooon..." she partially said and partially sang.

"Don't even start with that," said Azula, blushing as Mai began to actually laugh.

They were interrupted by another large poofing of smoke at the front of the room, this one much larger than the first. Everyone looked to it, knowing approximately what to expect. The smoke dissipated, revealing the same large, black-coated man from before standing there and grinning, several serious looking ninja in gray bodysuits standing at his sides. "Hello again," said the man. "Sorry for not introducing myself the first time. My name is Ibiki Moreno, but you can call me 'The Demon of the Leaf Village'. You'll want to by the time I'm done with you." A sadistic grin swept across his face. "Because now your hour reprieve is over...and your worst nightmare is about to begin!"

* * *

I think I'm the first person to ever use Tigger in a Naruto fanfiction. If not, someone please tell me so I may read this other, apparently awesome, fanfiction.

...also,I have no idea where the 'sexual tensioooon' between Sasuke and Azula came from. Besides, of course, my crazy little brain. Seems apt, though...at least, for now it does.

**DISCLAIMER2: **Tigger first appeared as a character in the Winnie the Pooh book by A.A. Milne, whose estate holds the rights to it. However, Tigger was first made famous in Disney's movie, after they bought the copyright and will be using it until 2026, when it runs out. Therefore, Walt Disney.

**DISCLAIMER3: **Kim Possible also belongs to the Walt Disney company, and all companies owned by Disney as well. Very much not mine.

**DISCLAIMER4: **Sora 'Kuriketto', as I have chosen to call him, is the main character of the Kingdom Hearts series. If you really want the copyright info on that, go back a couple chapters to where I've got it mentioned once already. For the quick version...well, I will paraphrase a popular online skit: 'Half of Sora is owned by Disney, and the other half is owned by Square Enix. Good luck with that whole puberty thing, kid.'

**DISCLAIMER 5:** Not Disney, actually. Simon, the clanless, is the main protagonist of the anime 'Terra Toppa Gurren Lagaan', as it was called in Japan. (The whole 'sounds like Sasuke' joke was a play on the fact that the two share a voice actor in their dubbed series.) The copyright on the anime belongs to Gainax, Aniplex, and Konami.

Well, with that out of the way, have a splendiferous day, you five...er, you all! See you next chapter!


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